Fallen No.3 2020

Owen Gent made 'Fallen No.3' sometime in the 20th Century, and it looks like they used gouache or maybe a grainy ink. The palette is so limited, off-whites and deep blues, and then that one searing cadmium red circle. It’s like a solar eclipse or a warning sign. I love the way the blue figure tumbles in the cream space like a memory fading in the sun. Gent is great at the materiality of the piece, the way it looks a bit like rough paper, but also how the figure is so smooth and opaque, like a body. It reminds me of someone like Milton Avery, where the space feels both flat and deep at the same time. It’s like falling into a dream. The light in the corner suggests a hard reality, but the falling figure is all surrender. The whole thing feels unresolved, like a question mark hanging in the air. What do you think it means?