Peaches 1971

Janet Fish made this painting of peaches, maybe in the 1970s, with oil on canvas, and just look at the way she's gone to work on these forms, the light bouncing off of the surfaces. I can imagine her setting up this still life, shifting the peaches around, adjusting the light, trying to get it just right. It is difficult to capture that glistening tension between the skin and the light. What I love about painting is the physical relationship between the colors, the texture of the paint, and the way it all comes together to create something new. Look at the way the brushstrokes follow the curve of the fruit, giving it a sense of depth and volume. There’s this dialogue between the artist and the peaches, each informing the other. Like Morandi with his bottles, Fish seems to say that painting these peaches is a way of understanding and communicating something fundamental about form, light, and perception. It's like a secret language that only painters and peaches can understand.