Docile Post Al 2017

Editor: We’re looking at David Michael Hinnebusch's “Docile Post Al,” a mixed-media painting from 2017. It strikes me as a rather intense, almost frantic portrait. The colours are bold, and the lines are quite chaotic. What’s your take? Curator: Observe how the artist manipulates line and color to construct the figure. Note the strategic deployment of contrasting hues – the cool blues against the hot pinks. The line work, though seemingly spontaneous, carefully defines planes and creates a dynamic visual rhythm. How does the interplay between these formal elements affect your reading of the work? Editor: I think it makes it feel unsettled, like there's tension just beneath the surface. The kind of art where you look longer and longer, and the image seems to almost move around on the canvas, especially the overlapping elements of the face. Curator: Precisely. Now, consider the flatness of the picture plane juxtaposed with the illusion of depth created by overlapping shapes and lines. The artist deliberately subverts traditional notions of perspective. In your opinion, how does this choice contribute to the artwork's overall meaning? Editor: I guess by not having realistic depth, the painting emphasizes the artificiality of representation itself. It reminds you that you’re looking at colours and lines, not a real person in a real space. Is that a fair observation? Curator: A very astute one. By disrupting representational conventions, the painting compels us to engage with its formal qualities first and foremost. Hinnebusch forces us to reckon with the materiality of art. What do you make of the layering of colours across the different features? Editor: It almost feels like looking at an X-ray, like we’re seeing all the layers that went into creating this image. I had not really thought of it that way before. It has taught me how to engage more directly with what is on the surface and notice how the artistic choices have their own way of meaning something. Curator: Indeed. A rewarding perspective, for it encourages you to not merely appreciate what it represents but how.