Genesis 2002

Alexander Bogen made this painting, Genesis, with oil on canvas, and what grabs me right away is the feeling of process, like I’m seeing the artist thinking out loud. It’s all about the materiality. Check out how the paint ranges from thin washes to gloppy, almost sculptural strokes. Look at the way the dark blues and blacks are dragged and layered, creating a sense of depth and mystery. And then there’s that bright yellow orb on the left. It’s like a sun, or a seed, bursting with potential against the somber background. That little burst of yellow, it reminds me of a Joan Miró or maybe even a Helen Frankenthaler – that sense of playful, almost accidental composition. Bogen is in conversation with the history of painting, but he's also doing his own thing, wrestling with big ideas like creation and destruction, and leaving plenty of room for us to bring our own interpretations to the canvas.