Games - Sleight of Hand 1999

Jacob Lawrence made this painting, Games - Sleight of Hand, with tempera on board using flat shapes and brilliant colors. It looks like he had so much fun! I can imagine him trying to create a world of illusions, just like the magician whose hands move faster than your eye can follow. Look at how he painted the boxes stacked on the table. It's like the whole thing could collapse at any minute. I wonder if Lawrence was thinking about chance and chaos, or maybe even social mobility as a game? The artist's sense of color really shines through! The green next to the red is kind of jarring; and the white figures on the left are almost camouflaged. These strong contrasts give the scene a sense of depth, but also mystery. Lawrence’s paintings invite us to see the world as a stage for life's little dramas, reminding me how all artists borrow from each other’s creative toolkits across time!