Jack 2009

Dave Macdowell made this portrait, Jack, with paint that seems to be applied almost like clay. The surface has a cool, tactile quality, and the color feels both heightened and kind of sickly. I see a network of brushstrokes, a dance of pinks and mauves that create the face, as if the paint itself is sculpting the features. There’s something brave, almost reckless, in the way Macdowell commits to each mark. The paint is thick, almost sculptural, building up to form the contours of the face. Look at the area around the eyes: these small strokes feel so full of nervous energy. The way he uses pinks and blues to suggest shadow and depth is really masterful. It reminds me of some of Alice Neel’s portraits, where the personality of the sitter seems to emerge directly from the materiality of the paint. It is in these little acts of painting that the essence of the man emerges.