The Model 2016

Adam Caldwell made this painting, The Model, sometime in the 20th century with a limited palette of darks, browns, and fleshy tones. You can feel him building the image, stroke by stroke, on the canvas. I feel for Caldwell here, trying to capture the light and shadow on her face. The way he’s scrubbed and layered the paint, you can almost sense the push and pull he experienced while trying to bring her alive. I wonder, was he thinking of Lucian Freud when making this? There is a tonal quality to it. I’m drawn to the impasto strokes around her left eye. Caldwell must have worked and reworked it, trying to get it just right. It's these layered gestures that communicate Caldwell's intention, but also the feeling of working at something. These are the kinds of ongoing experiments and exchanges artists are constantly making through time. It shows that, at its heart, painting is about process and discovery, not just the finished image.