Notebook I

George Hofmann posted this image of new work on instagram recently. Been thinking about it ever since. The influence of the Post Impressionists in the work is palpable. The geometries on the left, the short broken strokes on the right – like Cezanne’s water color landscapes disappearing from view as they break into pieces. Everything in this painting is cracking, splitting in two or fading out of view. It’s suffused with light burnishing away the edges, the brush strokes, and the “history” and imagery within it. The scraped black area at the top anchors the piece in the here and now. The predominant blues (all types) thread through the image giving it structure and rhythm – yellows light up, lift the composition – and that pop of red (a coda, a finality) – all play with the idea of a broken and forgotten Modernism (who’s afraid of red, yellow and blue?) Struck by the Southern return in the painting, a feeling of loss, like a found relic from the Modern Era.