Man Woman 1963

Allen Jones made this painting, "Man Woman," at an unknown date with paint on canvas, and what strikes me first is the boldness of the colour. It's like he's not just painting figures but making them out of pure chromatic energy. Look at how Jones applies the paint: thin washes, clean edges, and flat planes of colour that stack up to make the figures. There’s an almost diagrammatic quality to the way the forms are built, suggesting process as a kind of unveiling, like each layer is a step closer to understanding. Take the leg for instance, how the simple blocky shapes of orange, brown and yellow suggest a 3-d form. This painting reminds me a bit of Alex Katz, but Jones is pushing it further into a kind of pop-art space. Like all good paintings, "Man Woman" lives in that delicious zone of not quite making sense.