Watching the Swallows Go 1979

Kit Williams made this painting of a man and some swallows. The painting has an illustrative style, with meticulous details and a clear depiction of forms, but it doesn't quite feel like realism. The texture and color contribute a lot, like the way the wood grain of the frame is lovingly rendered, while the blue of the sky above the figure is hazy and thin. Look at how the birds are painted as silhouettes against the top of the frame, like an idea hovering over his head. I like the way Williams handles the paint, it's neither totally flat, nor deeply impastoed. Williams' combination of formal precision with an almost whimsical sensibility reminds me a bit of Joseph Cornell, but there is a graphic clarity here too, which makes me think of photography, and surrealism. Ultimately the charm of this piece lies in the way it leaves space for the imagination to fly.