Polo at Windsor II 1966

LeRoy Neiman made Polo at Windsor II with paint, and a real feeling for the sport. The horses and riders are rendered with an energetic touch, the colours are bright, and the brushstrokes are loose, capturing the dynamism of the game, the process of painting is all there on the canvas, nothing is hidden. Looking closely, you see how the artist layers strokes of colour, like the reds and purples in the horse on the right, these colours aren’t mixed, instead, they vibrate on the surface. The texture is built up, it's almost sculptural, as if Neiman is modelling the forms, not just describing them. See how the background is made up of these kind of gestural marks too. Neiman reminds me of someone like Elaine de Kooning in that he is using figuration as a vehicle for painterly expression, and showing us that art isn't always about answers, it’s also about the questions we ask along the way.