Face 1957

Curator: So much blue! I see loneliness; what’s your first take? Editor: I’m stuck on the oil itself. It's 1957, and here's Blackman's “Face," that blue—I wonder what pigments were easily accessible then. You know, the Cobalt Blues were pretty tricky and expensive. Curator: Blue seems apt, considering Blackman's personal life back then. Those early Alice paintings of his speak to that fragile domesticity, tinged with anxiety... like this distilled face staring off. Editor: Fragile, yes, and economical too. Observe the painting's materials; how the very *idea* of a face gets sculpted from minimal brushstrokes. That simple reduction… What's discarded speaks volumes. Curator: I wonder if it was discarded, or if he chose a dream instead. It's abstracted to its purest form. That line forming the nose. A single eye reflecting an unknown feeling. Editor: Look at the lack of clear figuration—isn't this also Blackman questioning art's function, or its place in a newly material postwar world? Like a product but then like a signifier... what a contradiction! Curator: Isn’t all art contradictory, though? Isn't it all material? But isn't it about transcending matter in order to explore what is inexpressible otherwise? What could we make of it without Blackman’s struggle and intent? It might as well be wallpaper. Editor: I appreciate that you remind us not to ignore the intent. So here Blackman used his skill and chose those particular oil paints, right at that time, to confront both the world and this singular, abstracted essence... And from that clash comes something meaningful for all of us, after all. Curator: Perhaps... Something evocative at least.