Madam Butterfly 1980

Will Barnet made this screenprint, "Madam Butterfly," and it's all about the quiet power of shapes and colors. See how he uses flat areas of color to create a sense of depth and space? It's like he's building the image out of simple blocks. What strikes me about this piece is the way Barnet uses texture, or rather, implies it. The overall feel is smooth, but those woodgrain lines on the floor invite our eye to see an area of the image as a tactile plane. The fan is a particularly beautiful detail, full of tiny marks that almost dissolve into abstraction, a lively contrast with the woman's solid black hair. Barnet's simplification and flattening makes me think about other artists who’ve played with similar ideas, like Alex Katz. It’s all about finding that perfect balance between representation and abstraction, and Barnet, like Katz, does it with a deceptively simple touch. It feels modern, but also timeless, don't you think?