Triptych 1979

Here's this wild "Triptych" painting by Kit Williams. The whole thing is like a stage set—a wooden frame and painted panels, like an altarpiece gone delightfully bonkers. I'm picturing Williams, brush in hand, dreaming up this parade of characters and creatures. A cow is central to the image and being ridden by nude musicians. What's it like to wrestle with such a bizarre idea? Look at how smoothly those glazes are laid down. There's a sort of surreal smoothness. I'm struck by the way the characters seem to be enacting some sort of performance. It's as if Williams wants to capture the rhythm and the magic of music itself, and it makes me want to see what other wonderful worlds he's made. It reminds me of the fantastical worlds imagined by Hieronymus Bosch. We, as painters, are all in a great ongoing conversation.