Oh Painting

I waver continuously in my understanding of how an image may affect us. Mark Rothko is quoted as saying that he wanted the viewer to fall to his knees and weep before Rothko's paintings. I've never fallen to my knees and wept before a painting, certainly not in any of the privileged institutions where one can see a Rothko in the flesh. That said, some images speak to me. Most often the work makes me want to make work.

The paintings of Sam McKinnis make me wish I were a painter. Or that I were fabulously wealthy and could buy several of his portraits. Shown here is McKinniss's virtuosic study for a portrait. Browse through his series and wish you were a lithe young thing in the Boston area.