Twins 1990

Jamie Wyeth painted these twins in watercolor at an undetermined date. With a light touch, Wyeth builds up the image through the careful layering of translucent washes. It's a process of accretion, allowing the figures to emerge slowly from the ground. Look at the way Wyeth renders the hair, for example. It’s a mass of tiny strokes, suggestive of texture, but remaining resolutely abstract. The white of the paper shines through, giving a sense of light and airiness. And notice how the wooden chairs, though solid and present, are equally dematerialized by the fluid handling of the medium. The painting feels unresolved, caught somewhere between realism and something more dreamlike. In this way, it reminds me a little of Gerhard Richter's blurred photographs. Both artists seem interested in the way images can both reveal and conceal, suggesting the elusiveness of perception itself.