The Master 2016

Adam Caldwell must have made this eerie portrait in oil paint. The face is built with a mosaic of brushstrokes; pinks, reds, and browns that give the skin a feverish glow against the muted, dark background. I like how the painting is divided between the top and bottom halves. There's so much tension between the expressive treatment of the face and the flat block of color in the red turtleneck. I'm imagining Caldwell working on this, maybe he felt that tension too! Squinting, layering, and building up the portrait, then deciding to just stop. This bold interruption makes me think about how painters work, we are constantly in conversation with each other. Caldwell's is a cool take on portraiture, and the history of paintings.