The Dream Starts Here 2003

Mark Kostabi painted "The Dream Starts Here" with bold shapes and bright colors, creating a world that’s both familiar and a bit surreal. I imagine him layering the colors and forms, building up this playful scene bit by bit. Those figures on the swing, for instance, feel so smooth and sculptural, almost like they’re made of clay. The contrast with the flat planes of color surrounding them is really striking. I wonder if Kostabi was thinking about classicism when he painted those figures, maybe even riffing on some old master poses. Then, he throws in these totally contemporary, almost cartoony elements that disrupt any sense of seriousness. It’s like he’s saying, "Yeah, I know the history, but I’m gonna do my own thing." Painters are always talking to each other across time, even if they don’t know it. Kostabi’s work reminds us that painting is alive and well, constantly reinventing itself through this dialogue with the past. It’s a dance of ideas, a conversation that never really ends.