Man with Large Hat on Mighty 2015

Tal R’s painting, “Man with Large Hat on Mighty,” probably made in the last thirty years, seems to have come into being through a process of playful building and intuitive correction. I imagine him working on this, maybe with music playing in the background, starting with that field of horizontal stripes, letting those bright colors vibrate against each other, then building up the figure in layers. The paint looks kind of chalky, thick in some places, thin in others, with these almost cartoonish shapes. Look at the red form with the two blue curves implying a smile – it's such a simple gesture, but it totally brings the figure to life. It makes me think about the way artists are always riffing off each other, you know? How one person's idea can spark something completely new in someone else’s mind. We can see a connection to artists such as Philip Guston, in this kind of free and open conversation between generations. It’s a reminder that painting is an embodied practice that embraces all the messiness and uncertainty of the world.