San Francisco 49ers vs. Miami Dolphins ‘Post Season Classic’ 1985

LeRoy Neiman made this painting of the San Francisco 49ers versus the Miami Dolphins with what looks like acrylic paint and maybe some other stuff too, given how thick it is in places. The textures here are intense, like he just went at it with the brush, which is pretty cool. All the colours seem thrown on, right? Like he was trying to catch the energy of the moment, the speed of the game, in the marks themselves. There's this spot near the middle where the red and white of the 49ers' uniforms smash together. It's not neat, and that's what makes it interesting. It’s about feeling, not detail. There's something about this, the colours and that immediacy that makes me think of Joan Mitchell. Like her, Neiman is not trying to give us something clean and perfect, but something raw and alive. The painting's not just showing us a game; it’s throwing us right into it.