No More Games 1970

Benny Andrews made this large mixed media painting, "No More Games," with collage and paint on canvas. I really feel the artist's hand here – the surface is built up with thick textures, especially on the figure to the left, who looks like he's sitting down, waiting. Maybe he's thinking about the other side of the diptych – that body draped with the American flag. The flag is painted and collaged with this amazing, slightly frantic energy. I wonder what Andrews was thinking when he decided to tear and layer that fabric. I can almost feel the frustration and urgency in his actions. And those little flowers in the corner, are they a sign of hope or something else? Andrews’s bold and expressive style reminds me of some of Guston’s later figurative works, where the forms are both representational and deeply emotional. It’s like he's having a conversation with other painters across time, each riffing on themes of identity, politics, and the human condition. Painting is like that, always talking to itself.