Brawl 2022

James Jean made this painting, Brawl, sometime around now with paint. The first thing that grabs you is the wild palette, like a kids' birthday party gone sideways, right? The layering is intense, almost claustrophobic, but look closer—the forms are all so defined. It's like he's making space for chaos, setting up a fight in a flowerbed. There’s so much packed into the surface; flowers, butterflies, and these two toddlers wrestling. The kid on top has these amazing, striped socks, such a tiny, pop detail amidst the drama. The whole thing vibrates with this insane energy. It reminds me of Elizabeth Murray, in how she pulled together madcap compositions, but she did it with abstraction. Jean finds the same energy in figuration. Anyway, that’s how it strikes me, paintings are just a conversation, aren’t they?