Desk Murder 

Editor: Here we have "Desk Murder," an oil painting by R. B. Kitaj. The layering of forms and use of raw canvas create a textured surface that I find really intriguing. What do you make of its materiality? Curator: I'm struck by Kitaj’s explicit rendering of labor through visible process. The exposed canvas challenges notions of a seamless, finished art object. It brings into question not just "what" is depicted, but "how" it's made, highlighting the artist's own hand and the inherent effort involved in artistic production. Do you see how this approach disrupts the traditional separation of 'high' art and 'craft'? Editor: Absolutely. It's as if he's intentionally revealing the mechanics of art-making. But where do you see social context entering into his choice of materials? Curator: Look at the industrial palette—the ochres, the reds—suggesting an engagement with mass-produced pigments available in the post-war era. There’s a flattening of the visual plane, which parallels the increasing dominance of print and other reproduced imagery in culture at large. Kitaj isn't just representing a desk, but the materials through which our very perception is now mediated. How does the texture affect your understanding of it? Editor: Now that you mention it, the roughness undermines any illusionistic depth. It pushes everything to the surface. So the "murder" in the title isn't necessarily literal? Curator: Perhaps it's the murder of traditional artistic hierarchies, of preciousness in art. Kitaj reframes what it means to make and consume an image. Editor: I never thought about an art work’s textures this way. I have so much more to reflect on. Curator: Exactly. By interrogating process and materials, Kitaj transforms the mundane into a profound commentary on our cultural landscape.