Work

Describe the work you selected and why? How is it composed (color, tone, form, shape, space, line, surface, proposition, context, symbolism, response, etc.)

Gorky's The Liver is the Cock's Comb evokes the feeling of the familiar and recognizable upon the undefined. It is abstract, but Gorky positions lines and colors to suggest figures. These figures, bright in color and contrast and frenetic line weights invite the viewer to try and define them through a combination of black outlines that seemingly fade out under the weight of other color swatches and shapes and the contrasting shapes themselves the bend into each other. The end result is a work that engages the reader to constantly struggle to define objects within, with the objesct purposefully mangled together to prevent that definition. The colors, shapes, and figures are are familiar enough that they ease the viewer into a sense of the known, and then challenge them with an omnipresent formlessness.