Crash in Phthalo Green 1984

Carlos Almaraz created this painting, Crash in Phthalo Green, with visible brushstrokes in bold greens, blues, and oranges. It’s so LA, right? I can just imagine him outdoors with his canvas on a bright sunny day with the smell of gasoline hanging in the air. It must have been a challenge for Almaraz to depict the subject matter; the difficulty of capturing a fleeting, tragic moment, such as a car crash. The painting is so physical: the materiality of it all, the way the texture comes alive through layering, thick paint, and brushstrokes that look like they have been thrown at the canvas! He was onto something! The green overpass acts as a structural support, contrasting the fluidity of the sky and highway. The colors are so intense; he must have felt he was wrestling with them in the process of painting. Crash in Phthalo Green, to me, is an ongoing conversation between Almaraz, the subject matter, and painting itself.