Muse 1985

Alexander Bogen's painting, 'Muse,' is a lyrical abstraction of layered gestures in ochre, black, blue, and white paint. I can only imagine Bogen leaning in, brush loaded, making intuitive marks, wiping away, and then adding more, always adjusting. It’s like a dance, isn’t it? I keep thinking about that luminous white rectangle, kind of floating, but also anchored, with that flurry of white strokes shooting up out of it like a flame. And the blue patch, which looks like it might be a shadow, a weight, an anchor? There's a history of painting right there, the push and pull. You know, artists are always looking at each other, across time, across the world. Bogen is in conversation with all the other painters who ever lived, and all the painters yet to come. Painting’s a dialogue.