Guilford Painted Chest c. 1936

Martin Partyka painted this Guilford Painted Chest, sometime between 1855 and 1995, and I get the feeling he really enjoyed the process. It's like the whole thing is alive with these tiny little marks, dancing across the surface. The red is so punchy, like a string of firecrackers against that moody, dark ground. Look closely, and you'll see how the paint isn't trying to hide anything. It's not about illusion, it's about the realness of the gesture, the hand moving, the brush touching. The decoration on the draws is made up of individual elements with a looping, rhizomatic line connecting them all. It almost looks like embroidery. And that reminds me of another artist, Elizabeth Murray. Like her, Partyka, seems to play with the ordinary in a really extraordinary way, turning a humble chest into a whole universe of pattern and color.