ArtistJohn Winslow
Sunday at the Ontological Theater
Date2005
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions54 × 54 in. (137.2 × 137.2 cm)
Framed Size: 56 × 56 in. (142.2 × 142.2 cm)
Credit LineDC Commission on the Arts and Humanities Wilson Building Collection
Object numberDCCAH2006.248
ClassificationsPaintings
Locations
- Wilson Building Art Collection (1350 Pennsylvania Ave NW)
DescriptionA theatrical setting with a stage, acrobatic performers, an audience and, as a backdrop, a painted simulacrum of an audience looking at the scene from behind. Some of the performers or inanimate surfaces are 'prepared' (just as an instrument can be 'prepared' in John Cage's music) by having had paint splashed on them. [Splashed paint has become a favored device of Winslow’s. It is of course a reference to abstract expressionism but it is also a way of loosening up or expanding the strictures of 'local color,' one of the tenets of realism.] Winslow also enjoys seeing paints range from being meticulously manipulated in the service of realistic effects to being dripped, sloshed, knifed or smeared straight out of the can or tube. Since Winslow’s paintings are largely about painting itself he often puts in his appearance. In this case he is the standing figure partially obscured by the arm of the performer on the step stool. Winslow’s wife Rosemary is standing in front of the step stool in the immediate foreground.
