Peace Seeker 2018

Editor: This oil painting is called "Peace Seeker," created by Rose Freymuth-Frazier in 2018. It's quite striking. The subject's gaze is direct, but there's a softness to the colors and textures. How do you interpret this work from a formalist perspective? Curator: Note first the contrast between the hard-edged mechanical object the man holds before him and the organic textures of the background, his clothing, and even the impastoed rendering of his skin. How might we understand that juxtaposition as a conversation about artmaking itself? Is the painter-as-photographer here laying claim to objectivity, or critiquing it? Editor: I see what you mean. The hard lines of the camera really pop, whereas the rest of the piece seems almost to dissolve into soft edges and floral patterns. Curator: Exactly. And what about the compositional relationship between the human figure and the dove perched on his shoulder? Consider how that white punctuates the chromatic harmony of the composition. What new relations might be possible without its intervention? Editor: The dove introduces a visual tension. It breaks up the patterns, maybe drawing attention to the theme of peace, like a symbol placed right in the frame, unbalancing it in an intriguing way? Curator: Indeed. The dove acts as a rupture within the established pictorial space. The artist skillfully uses that disharmony. Editor: This emphasis on internal composition, on visual push and pull, certainly gives me a richer understanding. Curator: Hopefully you see now, even the most apparently figurative or narrative work offers profound discoveries when filtered through rigorous visual analysis.