The Day Everything Changed Forever 2016

Bo Bartlett made "The Day Everything Changed Forever" using oil on canvas. The colors here are so precise, and the details so deliberate, that they give the whole scene a dreamlike quality. I find myself zooming in on the red of the bicycle, which is so bright against the tan of the landscape and the blue of the sky. These are all flat, almost shadowless hues, which only adds to the sense of timelessness. But it’s not just the color; it's the flatness of the paint application too. Look closely at the sky. The way the pigment is applied gives it this hazy, almost ethereal feel. It’s as though the figures of the women on the bicycle are superimposed onto a landscape. This reminds me of Alex Katz, another painter interested in the way we create a sense of self through observation. What is so appealing about this painting is it embraces ambiguity, leaving much open to interpretation.