Richard Pionk, President, Salmagundi Art Club 2002

Frank Mason's portrait of Richard Pionk, the President of the Salmagundi Art Club, is just so juicy! The dark, slick, inky blues and blacks of his suit contrast with Pionk’s pale face and shocking white hair and that tomato-red tie. You can tell Mason really relished laying down these colours, one after the other, wet-on-wet, coaxing that likeness out of the dark. I'd love to have been a fly on the wall in the studio! I wonder if Mason knew Pionk well, if they were friends? I can imagine the camaraderie, the gentle ribbing... I just wonder what they might have said to one another! There is an incredible history of portrait painting that Mason is in dialogue with, so he has all these painters from the past looking over his shoulder as he works, egging him on and spurring him to ever more expression. That's what it's all about: keeping the conversation alive.