Portrait of the Poet Abraham Sutzkever 1988

This is Alexander Bogen’s painting of the poet Abraham Sutzkever, and it’s made with visible, energetic brushstrokes. I can really see the artist thinking through the paint. Look at the poet’s blue jacket – it’s not just blue, is it? Bogen uses these little dashes of green and white. There’s a real sense of spontaneity here. This is someone who’s not trying to hide their process, but rather celebrate it. And the poet's hands resting are painted with so much warmth and the colour is delicious. I think it is the most considered part of the painting. It reminds me a little of someone like Alice Neel, the way she captured the essence of her subjects with such honesty and directness. But where Neel uses bold outlines, Bogen is interested in the texture and the surface of the paint. It’s like he’s saying, “Here’s a portrait, but also here’s paint being paint.”