Lawrence Taylor 1996

LeRoy Neiman made this vibrant portrait of Lawrence Taylor with paint, but it looks like it could’ve been anything, even frosting! The painting is a blitz of color, like a highlight reel of pure energy. Look at the way Neiman attacks the canvas, those confident strokes of pink, yellow, and blue, piecing together Taylor’s face like a cubist jigsaw. It feels impulsive, immediate, like he’s trying to capture the essence of Taylor’s power, not just his likeness. There’s a real physicality to the paint, thick in some places, almost transparent in others, the surface alive with texture. That juicy swipe of yellow behind Taylor’s shoulder? It’s like Neiman’s saying, “This is how it feels to watch him play.” Neiman reminds me a bit of Joan Mitchell. Both artists weren’t afraid to let the paint do its thing, creating worlds of feeling with color and gesture. Art isn’t about answers, it’s about the conversation, the push and pull of ideas.