The chase 1959

John Brack made this painting, The Chase, with what looks like oil paint and some pretty graphic shapes. It's clear he's not trying to hide the process; the paint is smooth, the colours are bright and fun, and the scene itself is playful. The shapes are a little strange – look how the legs stretch on forever, and the shadows are these blocky green shapes following the girls, but not quite mirroring them. Then there are those odd dashes of colour all over the girls’ dresses. It feels like a diagram about childhood, a world of simple colours and shapes. Brack doesn’t seem to be interested in realism so much as rhythm. Everything feels tight and compressed. It reminds me of the work of Philip Guston, who also embraced a kind of cartoonish simplicity. But where Guston’s paintings feel anxious and fraught, Brack's work is more detached and sardonic. Art is always a conversation across time, isn’t it?