The Receiver 2003

Mark Kostabi's 'The Receiver' plays with smooth surfaces and hard edges, as if testing the limits of how simple a painting can be. The colours are bold, primary, flattened, and graphic, not unlike a painting by Mondrian. Look at the way the reflective surface of the mirror shows the figure in a different light, with pink hues and cool blue shadows. The starkness of the painting, its geometry, and the blank-faced figures, creates a sense of alienation. Yet, there is something funny about it. The shapes are so cartoonish that it becomes absurd and playful. I can't help but feel like I’m looking at a surrealist comic book. Kostabi seems to be channelling the spirit of artists like de Chirico, who used simplified forms and dreamlike imagery to create an atmosphere of mystery. You might say that he's picking up the thread of a conversation that's been going on in art for a long time, where the goal is not just to show the world, but to question how we see it.