Reconstruction 1989

Mark Kostabi made this painting, Reconstruction, using what looks like acrylic on canvas with a limited palette. The simplicity of the black and white gives it this otherworldly feel, like you're peeking into some kind of alternate reality. I’m struck by how the artist uses shading to define these figures and forms, which are floating in a kind of dream space. Look at the figures, they almost seem to be caught between dimensions, perhaps ascending towards something or descending from somewhere else. The texture is smooth and the tones are consistent. It's hard to say exactly what tools Kostabi used. The surface doesn't give much away, but that adds to the mystery. Works like this make you think about how art doesn't always have to spell everything out. It's more about creating a mood, suggesting a story, and inviting us to fill in the blanks. You might find something like this in Philip Guston's later figurative works, or perhaps even de Chirico. Anyway, it's more like an ongoing conversation between artists, a back-and-forth of ideas across time, wouldn't you say?