Inflation 2018

Jammie Holmes made this painting of a soup can with what looks like acrylic on canvas. I love how the painting feels like a sketch; you can see all the artist’s moves and decisions. It’s like the painting is still in process. The way the red band at the top of the can sort of bleeds into the white gives a loose, immediate feel, and the scratchy lettering adds to that. The black daubs at the bottom, under the $9.99 price tag, are interesting. Are they covering something up? Are they just a shadow? It reminds me a little of some of Philip Guston's later paintings, where he embraced a kind of rough, raw style. Ultimately, it is the feeling of the painting being made in front of our eyes that makes it so engaging. Like art, the price of everything is always in flux, and nothing is ever truly finished, right?