No Harm Done 2021

Kayla Mahaffey made this painting, No Harm Done, sometime in the 20th century with a vibrant palette and crisp outlines. I’m imagining her in the studio, layering up these cartoonish images, letting the composition emerge through intuition and accident. I feel the way she plays with the cartoonish aesthetic, turning Bugs Bunny on its head. There’s a lot of heavy stuff in her work, but also an embrace of childlike wonder. It can be a way of coping, to find a sense of play, even in the darkest situations. Like the great Philip Guston, the cartoons are strategies, full of melancholy and humour. Look at how the figure sits at the centre of the composition. A master of their own domain, despite the trappings of childhood. The hammer is a kind of playful prop. A prop that resonates with the work of other painters who want to use figuration to talk about power.