Little Flowers on the Stump 2017

David Michael Hinnebusch made *Little Flowers on the Stump* using paint, and also some other stuff. He really goes for it with the brushstrokes! The hot pink and blue create a really compelling dissonance, but it’s balanced out with the calm areas of floral wallpaper. I am really drawn to the interplay of figuration and abstraction in this work. It feels like a conversation between different modes of seeing, and the physicality of the paint is so present. The texture created by the layering of colours – those thick, almost clumsy marks – gives the piece a real sense of depth and energy. Look at the way Hinnebusch uses the colour in the lower left corner to create this sense of a landscape. This piece reminds me a little of Tal R’s bold, graphic sensibility. Both artists have a way of making something that feels both chaotic and incredibly controlled, embracing the tension between intention and accident. Anyway, who needs fixed meanings when you can have a kaleidoscope?