Untitled 1965

Konrad Lueg made this untitled painting with paint, sometime during his lifetime. It's funny, the way the background feels like both wallpaper and dense foliage, as though the whole scene is trying to decide whether it's inside or outside. I mean, look at that green! It’s like, is it one color or many? Lueg seems to have applied paint thinly, using multiple layers to build up this weirdly compelling surface. And then, these simple, almost cartoonish flowers that just sprout up. A bit like Elizabeth Murray, but in the opposite direction? The way that these colors vibrate, these hues of green, the pinks and reds of the flowers, against each other; that's how you know the painter is alive. It's a painting that makes you think, "What is this, really?" And that's a good thing, I think.