Portrait #4 2022

Adam Caldwell made this painting, Portrait #4, sometime in the 20th century, using what looks like oil on canvas. The way he's layered the image, a woman’s face overlaid with the American flag, it's like he's building up meaning, brushstroke by brushstroke. Looking at the surface, you can almost feel the push and pull of the brush. Some areas are built up with thick, opaque paint, while others are thinned out, transparent washes, see the contrast of the red bars with the woman's face. It's this back-and-forth, the give and take, that makes the painting so dynamic. Take a look at the lower right corner of the painting, with the fragment of text and the black cross. It’s like Caldwell is dropping clues, inviting us to piece together the puzzle. I’m reminded of Robert Rauschenberg’s collages, which blend painting and found objects to make pointed cultural commentary. In the end, it’s the painting’s ambiguity, its resistance to easy answers, that makes it so compelling.