The tension of humanity inhabiting the in-between is a long-explored theme in art history, tracing perhaps most famously back to Greek sculpture and most recently to the representation of pools in modern art. Water, pools specifically, symbolize this tension, like a petri dish for all unknown to stay, manifest, dwell. The act of swimming itself is a middle ground for our physical reality -- not wholly feeling our weight but not wholly feeling its absence. This intermediary position represented through the physical location in or near water shows the cognitive power of humanity in an exaggerated, exalted manner. Artists emphasize the appropriateness, even correctness, of dwelling in the in-between through depicting bright artworks that portray a simplified interpolation. Artists like David Hockney, Caroline Walker, Benjamin Senior, and Eric Fischl position much of their artwork poolside, breathing deeply into the conflict and theme of the in-between. By assuredly telling their audience to breath deeply within their conflict, these artists suggest that peace comes from growing in conflict rather than hurriedly remedying it. In this collection, artists reckon with the elusivity of the in-between in various ways: some portraying the struggle, some portraying the action, and some portraying the peace.
David Hockney, A Bigger Splash, 1967, acrylic on canvas, 95.5 x 96 inches, Tate
Although there is no figure seen, Hockney loudly reminds us of human presence with a large, detailed splash in the center of this painting. This figure, trapped still beneath the water’s surface, leaves the viewer a big white splash reminding us of their humanity. Hockney speaks into the tension of the in-between by submerging his subject fully in it, much like Eric Fischl’s Christian Retreat.
Eric Fischl, Christian Retreat, 1980, oil on canvas, 64 x 78 inches, MoMA
Titled Christian Retreat, Fischl suggests a recently-made decision by an unseen but suggested figure. The empty poolside lounge chair, the open Bible, the sunglasses, the box of cigarettes and the lighter, all rest idly on poolside tables next to a pool that has just been jumped into. Eric Fischl captures a scene frozen in the middle of conflicted decision, and he continues the motif of water as representation for human tension. The splash loudly announces the splasher’s decision -- brashly moving away from their conflicted life as represented by the contradicting objects on the tables. The in-between still remains on the poolside, but for now, the figure will decidedly move to the water.
Benjamin Senior, The Pool, 2013, egg tempera on cotton on aluminum, 40 x 60cm, Carl Freedman Gallery
Two figures stretching, and one figure preparing to dive off the block, and partially covered by a fourth figure whose dive covers nearly the entire painting horizontally. Benjamin Senior speaks into the reckoning with human tension through water quite directly. He painted four swimmers at the pool, but none of them are yet inside it. While one is seconds away from breaking through the surface, this emphasis on the in-between of tension remains the primary form of action portrayed in this artwork.
David Hockney, Portrait of an Artist (Pool With Two Figures), 1972, Acrylic on canvas, 84 x 12 inches, Christie’s
David Hockney’s paintings enhance the sexual tension of his homosexuality through his location of the pool. Hockney paints himself into this painting, standing at the end of the pool in an anticipatory hover over the nearly-naked man swimming below. He paints himself waiting and watching, but paints the man in the pool as seemingly unaware of what is going on at the surface.
Caroline Walker, Desert Modern, 2016, oil on linen, 90 3/5 × 128 inches, GRIMM
A tranquil, cool indigo pours over the once blue sky and once green trees. The figure on the right sits on her partly-indoor partly-outdoor patio, nestled in the in-between of the cool of the outdoors and the yellow warmth of her home. Rather than experiencing doubt of impending decision, she embraces her position, sits back, and reads. While the in-between frightens some people, to others, as Caroline Walker suggests in this painting, it offers an overwhelming peace of potential opportunity.
No comments:
Post a Comment