Mango Mango 1973

Red Grooms made this print, "Mango Mango," layering flat planes of color and bold lines. The way Grooms uses color feels intuitive, like he's riffing on a theme. Look at how he turns skin tones into blocks of orange, red, and blue, completely freeing himself from the obligation to represent things as they are. It’s so refreshing! And those outlines, thick and decisive, give the image a real graphic punch, almost like a comic strip come to life. I'm drawn to the area where the man's pinstripe suit meets the woman's dress. The green-blue of the dress with its playful floral pattern, bumping up against the rigid lines of the suit. There’s a tension there, a kind of visual argument that keeps the eye moving. Grooms' work reminds me a bit of Fairfield Porter, especially in its embrace of the everyday. But while Porter is all about quiet observation, Grooms goes for the jugular with his loud, boisterous compositions. It’s a reminder that art doesn’t always have to be hushed and reverent, it can be a joyful, messy celebration of life.