Reconstruction 1989

Mark Kostabi made this painting, Reconstruction, probably in the late 20th century. The way he’s built up the tones using black and white oil paint creates a kind of dreamy, surreal atmosphere. Looking at this painting, I imagine Kostabi feeling like he needed to create a space outside of reality. What do you do when real life just seems so insane? I see these figures floating, almost like angels, but they're wearing hats, and they have no faces. That strong diagonal created by the steps on the lower right pulls my eye around the composition. It’s as though he's asking: How do we make sense of the world? How do we rebuild it, reshape it, and reconstruct it in a way that feels meaningful? Even the paint seems to be questioning, as if the very act of layering and blending is a kind of searching. We see artists today still grappling with similar questions, each adding their own brushstroke to this ongoing visual conversation.