French Connection 1976

LeRoy Neiman made this painting of a hockey game with confident strokes and a bold palette. I love how the energy of the game is captured through these expressive marks. The materiality here is palpable; you can almost feel the speed of the brush as Neiman lays down each stroke. Look at how the blues and yellows of the players' uniforms bleed into the ice, creating a sense of movement and chaos. Notice the thick, juicy paint, applied with a kind of urgency that mirrors the intensity of the game. The red streaks around the net, almost violent, punctuate the composition, injecting a raw emotion into the scene. Neiman's gestural approach reminds me of some of Joan Mitchell's abstract landscapes, where the subject is less about representation and more about capturing a feeling. "French Connection" isn't just a painting of hockey; it's a visceral experience.