Skull Rocks Bones 1994

Susan Rothenberg made this painting called "Skull Rocks Bones" and it’s a trip. The color is super casual, almost like a yellowed memory. It reminds me how art is often about what happens along the way. The texture in Rothenberg’s painting is really something. The skull and bones emerge from this sunny yellow background like ghostly apparitions. Down in the bottom corner, this mound of thick white paint sits there, a real presence on the canvas. Is it a rock, is it more bones, is it just paint? Look closely, and you can see the marks left by the brush – short, choppy strokes that build up this almost sculptural form. It’s physical, it’s immediate, it's right there. Rothenberg's work makes me think about other painters like Elizabeth Murray, who also walked their own path. Like Murray, Rothenberg isn’t trying to give us any answers, but sometimes, the questions are the point.