Chance Encounter 2001

Mark Kostabi, sometime after 1960, painted “Chance Encounter” with acrylic on canvas, and what strikes me first is the graphic nature of the painting, it’s bold with flat planes of color. I imagine he was thinking about the history of painting, like de Chirico or Léger, but then he was perhaps also thinking about comic books, and how to distill form down to its essence. You can see him playing with light and shadow, defining form, but also making the whole scene feel a little unreal. I wonder if he’s having fun pitting the old with the new, that powdered wig with a clown’s hat, those playing cards scattered about. This kind of image-making feels like a stage set or a tableau, it's an odd combination of things that makes you stop and wonder. Artists like Kostabi are in an ongoing conversation, remixing ideas, and finding new ways to engage with the history of painting. The chance encounter becomes more than just a title but a way of working that allows newness to emerge.