Fastbreak 1987

Ernie Barnes made "Fastbreak," and it looks like he used oil paint to capture all the energy of a basketball game. You can almost hear the squeak of sneakers on the court. The players are caught mid-action, elongated and bent in impossible ways. You can tell Barnes played ball, or at least spent time on the courts; he really understood the physics of movement. I wonder if he was thinking about how much basketball is like dance. He was interested in contorting the players’ bodies, exaggerating certain movements. The figures remind me of El Greco's mannerist paintings. Look how the limbs twist, but everything is still balanced within the picture frame. It's like he's saying, "Hey, this isn't just about sports, it's about human potential and aspiration." And isn't that what painting should be too? A way to reach for something beyond our grasp, a place to celebrate the beauty and struggle of being alive. I love the fact that he can share all this through something as simple as a basketball game.