Enigmatic Combat 1937

Curator: Arshile Gorky's "Enigmatic Combat," dating from 1937, presents us with an intriguing exploration of form. The painting is a symphony of interlocking shapes rendered in oil paint, and currently resides at SFMOMA. Editor: The title definitely fits. My initial sense is of organized chaos, a vibrant conflict played out in yellows, blacks, and whites. The thick impasto gives it a tactile quality; you can almost feel the struggle. Curator: Observe how Gorky constructs a visual tension, using abstract forms that never quite resolve into recognizable figures. He deploys a deliberate flatness, negating traditional perspective and directing focus to the surface itself. The layering effect adds a sophisticated spatial ambiguity. Editor: Exactly, this is the power of process. I'm interested in what kind of tools created these striking contrasts and edges. Looking closely, I suspect he manipulated the density of the paint to evoke both depth and flatness—challenging assumptions about high art's divorce from its material means. Curator: These forms resonate with a certain biomorphic surrealism, evoking living organisms while refusing literal representation. There is also an intriguing sense of containment within the frame, almost like a constructed environment. What readings do you glean from its symbolic repertoire? Editor: For me, it all circles back to the title—Combat. I keep picturing a shop or maybe a workshop where this physical creation happened and consider how much bodily investment was demanded in wrestling these oil paints into this expressive arrangement. I bet the artist put a great amount of work into it, pushing it forward bit by bit until the composition achieved such an organized tension. Curator: A stimulating point, connecting the material to a greater, overarching meaning. This certainly changes the symbolic possibilities to a larger social context in how abstraction can reveal the emotional qualities within the form, regardless of its intent. Editor: Definitely. Gorky’s material wrestling opens up another window into art-making at this unique moment. Curator: Thank you for such insightful views. The art displays formal techniques alongside its capacity to be imbued with socio-historical insight.