Of a Fearful Symmetry (Bound Hand and Foot) 1991

Jo Baer made 'Of a Fearful Symmetry (Bound Hand and Foot)' with watercolor and collage on canvas. The mark making is like a personal hieroglyphic language and the color palette is subdued, allowing the imagery to come forward. Baer has been making these odd figurative paintings that float between worlds, images that linger in your mind, like a half-remembered dream. The surface is raw and exposed, the texture like skin, the physicality of the medium palpable. The collage elements add an unexpected twist, a break in the painted surface. I'm drawn to the figure in the top right corner, its limbs akimbo, a gesture of freedom. It reminds me a little bit of Forrest Bess, another artist who went his own way. Art is an ongoing conversation, an exchange of ideas across time, embracing ambiguity and multiple interpretations.