The Joy of Sax 2021

Mark Kostabi made "The Joy of Sax" with paint on canvas, and the surface is so smooth, it almost looks like a digital print. This machine-like finish is intriguing, especially since the color palette is so playful. The pink glow emanating from the chest of the piano player is a great detail. It’s a bit unsettling and cartoonish. It's like the body is a machine and the music is like it's fuel. I get a sense of art for art's sake. Or maybe a slightly more cynical take; art as pure entertainment. Thinking about Kostabi’s contemporaries, someone like Peter Halley comes to mind. But while Halley's work felt very concerned with the structures of power in society, Kostabi's art feels more inward-looking, like a stage for the artist’s personal obsessions. Art for art's sake, and more specifically for the artist's sake.