Contraband Blonde 1960

Mort Künstler made this painting, Contraband Blonde, with oils and maybe some other mediums, but it's hard to know what it might be mixed with, some wax, or liquin, or who knows what? The story seems to be emerging, shifting, and settling at once. I can imagine the artist thinking, where should I put the blonde? I wonder if the painter was imagining all the different dramas that could possibly happen in that space. I sympathize with the artist. Painting so many heads and faces, some staring, some smoking, some plotting with a gun. The artist’s dilemma, where do I put it? How many heads? Should she be blonde? Look at those blues and reds, those flesh tones and that briefcase brown; look at how that character is holding it, it almost glows. It looks like the men are admiring the Contraband Blonde or maybe there’s something more suspicious going on. Either way it is great. Artists are always in conversation, thinking about other artists, exchanging ideas.