Trinity University Digital Commons @ Trinity

Art and Art History Faculty Research Art and Art History Department

2019

What Painting Can Do

Michael Schreyach Trinity University, [email protected]

Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.trinity.edu/art_faculty

Repository Citation Michael Schreyach, “What Painting Can Do,” in Michael Reafsnyder: New Paintings (New York: Miles McEnery Gallery, 2019), 3-31.

This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Art and Art History Department at Digital Commons @ Trinity. It has been accepted for inclusion in Art and Art History Faculty Research by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Trinity. For more information, please contact [email protected]. WHAT!PAINTING!CAN!DO

By Michael Schreyach

1: Surfacing

All paintings metaphorically face their viewers, but not all literally feature faces. Michael Reafsnyder has become widely recognized for his colorful abstract surfaces livened with quirky personages, chief among them a centrally placed smiling visage that has been a staple of his imagery for two decades. Critics and audiences alike have interpreted the entity as a sign of either playful exuberance or cynical irony (sometimes both). Yet either verdict fails to capture the relationship in Reafsnyder’s art between the being that virtually “faces” us and the 3 formal problem of pictorial address.

A mode of pictorial address regulates the relationship between a painting and its beholder and also facilitates the artist’s communication. Doubly inflected, pictorial address can be understood as a dialectical structure of presentation and reception: it is the fiction of a painting’s self-display or self-signaling that is created by the artist. Paintings are actual objects, but they are imbued with the virtual power to face us. Like being greeted by another person, pictorial address does not merely stimulate an automatic reaction, but also solicits an involved response. It implies a form of acknowledgement under which the picture’s materialization (as a marked surface), its virtualization (as an image), and its temporalization (as a dynamic plane) may, in our experience of the object, be correlated with our efforts to understand what it communicates as a work of art. In other words, the notion of pictorial address depends on a viewer’s recognition of the means by which Reafsnyder’s paintings focus one’s a"ention and guide one’s responses along the way to interpreting his meaning (or expression, or statement, or intent).1 To be sure, that relationship has o#en been thematized by the conspicuous smiling (not smiley) faces for which his images are known.2 Hints of what would become the signature visage appeared in Reafsnyder’s work in the late 1990s, and the motif was firmly established in such paintings as Feast (2000) and Sunday Best (2001). In this year’s Evening Delight (2019), two members of a more recently devised family of biomorphic personages bracket the older, archaic type. It is possible to see the advent of the smiling face as a solution to the problem of pictorial address (see plate p. 49). In particular, the smiling face acts as a kind of control on two typical reactions to gestural abstraction. The first is the tendency of viewers to see the surface primarily as a repository of the artist’s putatively spontaneous activity, wherein each mark is equated with the personal expression of “feeling” (a habit that tends to privilege affective responses over the interpretation of pictorial effects). The second is the propensity of viewers to project into any complex accumulation of marks and colors an arrangement or pa"ern that Feast, 2002 4 can be mistaken for the depiction of objects (as might happen when gazing at clouds). As we 5 shall see, the smiling entity challenges this generic polarity. screen amalgamates the disparate spatial and planar effects of the painting’s surface. The impor- tance of the formal role that the face plays in this dynamic accommodation of one pictorial space To begin with an early example, consider Feast, where Reafsnyder applied a number of lines to another far outstrips its (presumed) status as an index of the artist’s emotive expressiveness and ringlets of oil paint squeezed copiously from tubes over an already glutted surface. or his childlike revelry in sheer materiality.4 Nevertheless, the initial ba"ery of passages, marks, scrapes, and smears collaborate to yield the sense of a more-or-less even plane lying under the coils and curlicues, which sit decisively Turn now to the visage in Evening Delight, which seems to parody the typical routine of viewing on top of the field as if on an invisible scrim. The consequence is a visual disparity between gestural abstraction: looking for faces and finding them. Here, Reafsnyder offers us an easy target. “surface” and “screen,” and thus between whatever dimensional “space” we might perceive to The smiling personage happily acknowledges that into any amorphous visual phenomenon view- be projected by the field, and the planar “space” demarcated by the floating curtain of ers will automatically project shapes they see as resembling real things. The entity in Evening squeezed lines.3 The smiling face is at least in part an a"empt to fuse the levels. Its eyes and Delight channels the response: here is the face, not there. Reafsnyder explains, “It interrupts what mouth are lines and circles on the scrim; its rounded face belongs to the field. Reafsnyder has you think you are going to get, or proposes what you think you are going to get, but it also allows positioned its features within smeared passages that mix colors into a cloudy paste, while the you to do what you might be inclined to do anyway—namely, find things in abstract paintings.”5 By sunshine rays that help define the circumference of the head seem simultaneously part of its conspicuously but playfully managing our projections, the face releases us from the game of find- physiognomy yet independent of any depictive function. The capacity of the face to read as ing faces everywhere. But it also marks a passage from the frivolous to the serious. Far from being both of the surface and of the Feast (2002) Sunday Best (2001) To be sure, that relationship has o#en been thematized by the conspicuous smiling (not smiley) faces for which his images are known.2 Hints of what would become the signature visage appeared in Reafsnyder’s work in the late 1990s, and the motif was firmly established in such paintings as Feast (2000) and Sunday Best (2001). In this year’s Evening Delight (2019), two members of a more recently devised family of biomorphic personages bracket the older, archaic type. It is possible to see the advent of the smiling face as a solution to the problem of pictorial address, (see plate p. 49). In particular, the smiling face acts as a kind of control on two typical reactions to gestural abstraction. The first is the tendency of viewers to see the surface primarily as a repository of the artist’s putatively spontaneous activity, wherein each mark is equated with the personal expression of “feeling” (a habit that tends to privilege affective responses over the interpretation of pictorial effects). The second is the propensity of viewers to project into any complex accumulation of marks and colors an arrangement or pa"ern that can be mistaken for Feast, 2002 4 the depiction of objects (as might happen when gazing at clouds). As we shall see, the smiling 5 entity challenges this generic polarity. screen amalgamates the disparate spatial and planar effects of the painting’s surface. The importance of the formal role that the face plays in this dynamic accommodation of one To begin with an early example, consider Feast, where Reafsnyder applied a number of lines pictorial space to another far outstrips its (presumed) status as an index of the artist’s emotive and ringlets of oil paint squeezed copiously from tubes over an already glutted surface. expressiveness or his childlike revelry in sheer materiality.4 Nevertheless, the initial ba"ery of passages, marks, scrapes, and smears collaborate to yield the sense of a more-or-less even plane lying under the coils and curlicues, which sit decisively on top Turn now to the visage in Evening Delight, which seems to parody the typical routine of viewing of the field as if on an invisible scrim. The consequence is a visual disparity between “surface” gestural abstraction: looking for faces and finding them. Here, Reafsnyder offers us an easy and “screen,” and thus between whatever dimensional “space” we might perceive to be pro- target. The smiling personage happily acknowledges that into any amorphous visual phenomenon jected by the field, and the planar “space” demarcated by the floating curtain of squeezed lines.3 viewers will automatically project shapes they see as resembling real things. The entity in The smiling face is at least in part an a"empt to fuse the levels. Its eyes and mouth are lines and Evening Delight channels the response: here is the face, not there. Reafsnyder explains, “It circles on the scrim; its rounded face belongs to the field. Reafsnyder has positioned its features interrupts what you think you are going to get, or proposes what you think you are going to get, within smeared passages that mix colors into a cloudy paste, while the sunshine rays that help but it also allows you to do what you might be inclined to do anyway—namely, find things in define the circumference of the head seem simultaneously part of its physiognomy yet indepen- abstract paintings.”5 By conspicuously but playfully managing our projections, the face releases dent of any depictive function. The capacity of the face to read as both of the surface and of the us from the game of finding faces everywhere. But it also marks a passage from the frivolous to the serious. Far from being Evening Delight (2019) a gratuitous gesture, the inclusion of the smiling entity is meant to thwart the passive enjoyment of these canvases as mere abstract compositions. We are confronted instead by works that must be faced in a posture of active interpretation. This means, going forward, paying careful a"ention to the specificity of Reafsnyder’s achievement in particular works of art. Of special importance is an account of his practice in relation to four categories (including the present one) that I suggest are fundamental for understanding his work in general: surfacing, spacing, siting, and timing.

2: Spacing

What quality of space might an abstract painting project, and what content might that space 6 hold? Reafsnyder’s formal and philosophical inquiry into these questions is ongoing. In general, Salsa King, 2018 7 his mode of abstraction produces a pictorial flatness that not only exists in pointed contrast to conventional spatial illusionism, but visually compresses the shallow bas-relief of his liquid effect is bolstered by blobs and droplets pooling elsewhere on the canvas. Viewers sense thickly painted surfaces into a virtual, but still optically dense, imagistic plane. Especially in an onrushing of color that swells toward them, yet that—as the vibrant bands collide with the slick passages of striated quasi-geometries, the paint seems to press against the linen surface apparent picture plane—stretches and spreads laterally toward zones of peripheral vision. The from behind and ultimately seep or even surge through it. twofold visual effect is of a radiant display that is both impacted and dispersed. To adopt a term from the teaching of Hans Hofmann (one that was taken up by the critic Clement Greenberg), In Salsa King (2018), a central vertical imprecisely bisects a colorful streaked array. Such edges Reafsnyder’s “re-created” flatness suspends color within a taut but still flexible screen and estab- or “lines” result from Reafsnyder’s application technique: using a sizable pale"e knife or the lishes a high-definition picture space that is at once puzzlingly planar and dimensional.6 edge of a long piece of plastic (e.g., Plexiglas) he is able to smoothly drag wide swaths of acrylic over large areas of canvas. Here, the pull has preserved the impression of a nearly continuous That description is meant to capture the complex optical effects of these paintings and to gesture. The axis marks a resting point where the painter paused before resuming his connote a kind of unspecified spatial extension that is neither depth nor volume in the usual action, perhaps to adjust the angle of the Plexiglas plank or to be"er control the pressure sense. It would be misguided to describe Reafsnyder’s picture space as lacking pictorial applied to it. (The crevice is in fact a physical depression, and it digs into paint layers.) Where dimension according to this amplified definition, especially in light of the artist’s precise the indented line now appears to intersect the horizontal sweep of banded colors, it creates control of color relationships that can alternately tighten and loosen areas of the fluctuating the sensation of a fold or channel out of which those hues flow, as if streaming toward us from the other side of the plane. The Salsa King (2018) a gratuitous gesture, the inclusion of the smiling entity is meant to thwart the passive enjoyment of these canvases as mere abstract compositions. We are confronted instead by works that must be faced in a posture of active interpretation. This means, going forward, paying careful a"ention to the specificity of Reafsnyder’s achievement in particular works of art. Of special importance is an account of his practice in relation to four categories (including the present one) that I suggest are fundamental for understanding his work in general: surfacing, spacing, siting, and timing.

2: Spacing

What quality of space might an abstract painting project, and what content might that space hold? Reafsnyder’s formal and philosophical inquiry into these questions is ongoing. In general, 6 his mode of abstraction produces a pictorial flatness that not only exists in pointed contrast Salsa King, 2018 7 to conventional spatial illusionism, but visually compresses the shallow bas-relief of his thickly painted surfaces into a virtual, but still optically dense, imagistic plane. Especially in slick pas- liquid effect is bolstered by blobs and droplets pooling elsewhere on the canvas. Viewers sages of striated quasi-geometries, the paint seems to press against the linen surface from behind sense an onrushing of color that swells toward them, yet that—as the vibrant bands collide and ultimately seep or even surge through it. with the apparent picture plane—stretches and spreads laterally toward zones of peripheral vision. The twofold visual effect is of a radiant display that is both impacted and dispersed. To In Salsa King (2018), a central vertical imprecisely bisects a colorful streaked array. Such edges or adopt a term from the teaching of Hans Hofmann (one that was taken up by the critic Clement “lines” result from Reafsnyder’s application technique: using a sizable pale"e knife or the edge of Greenberg), Reafsnyder’s “re-created” flatness suspends color within a taut but still flexible a long piece of plastic (e.g., Plexiglas) he is able to smoothly drag wide swaths of acrylic over large screen and establishes a high-definition picture space that is at once puzzlingly planar and areas of canvas. Here, the pull has preserved the impression of a nearly continuous gesture. The dimensional.6 axis marks a resting point where the painter paused before resuming his action, perhaps to adjust the angle of the Plexiglas plank or to be"er control the pressure applied to it. (The crevice That description is meant to capture the complex optical effects of these paintings and to is in fact a physical depression, and it digs into paint layers.) Where the indented line now appears connote a kind of unspecified spatial extension that is neither depth nor volume in the usual to intersect the horizontal sweep of banded colors, it creates the sensation of a fold or channel sense. It would be misguided to describe Reafsnyder’s picture space as lacking pictorial out of which those hues flow, as if streaming toward us from the other side of the plane. The dimension according to this amplified definition, especially in light of the artist’s precise control of color relationships that can alternately tighten and loosen areas of the fluctuating array. Although his surfaces flatly contest the still-automatic tendency of viewers to compare any picture—whether figurative or abstract—to a norm of naturalistic space containing real objects, Reafsnyder nonetheless is concerned with expressing the plenitude and internal coherence of his unique space. In Red Baron (2018), vertical and horizontal striated passages mainly respect the midline x and y axes of the support. (An emergent cruciform stands out near the top right corner, where diagonal swipes meet the bars of a right angle.) The incipient cross-brace internalizes the painting’s physical dimensions as it helps stamp out the totality of the array. At the same time, the partitioning of the surface area into approximate quadrants by these mesial passages suggests the division of a glass pane by grilles or muntins. By somewhat obvious analogy, the tactic calls to mind a central metaphor of a traditional painting as a “window.” While Reafsnyder’s abstractions obviously do not yield “views” on these terms, his surfaces nonetheless harbor something that suggests a norm of transparency. In Red Baron, 2018 8 our experience of his work, we see the power of abstract space to contain a world. 9 heretofore unremarked significance. As I mentioned above, characteristic features of his sur- Still, the contradictory commitment to flatness and depth, to planarity and dimensionality, pre- faces are the broadly swiped passages comprising sequences of vibrant color stripes that he sents Reafsnyder with a seemingly intractable problem: how to preserve a sensation of forms with customized flexible planks of Plexiglas. (Of course, he also uses traditional pale"e depth while simultaneously renouncing the chief technique—shading in light and dark—by knives.) In Sunny Flow (2019), a striated bar of red, orange, yellow, and purple sweeps upward which the imitation of space and its objects is most convincingly achieved as a visual from the lower edge of the canvas. Within the area, the slender parallel “lines” achieve a illusion. Although many modern abstract painters have endeavored to create pictorial space degree of independence from neighboring ribbons. Yet the effect of a continuous modulation through color relationships rather than through tonal modeling, shading remains the most of hue and value across the zone prevents us from describing those lines as independent effective means of convincing viewers of a depiction’s verisimilitude.7 Suggesting the mass of “strokes.” That is, the longitudinal streaks seem to result not from a sequence of individually objects by representing the light and dark values that consistent illumination would produce on applied marks but rather from a single—almost impossibly broad—gesture (see plate p. 75).8 them is a powerful tactic when used by artists to represent the natural world. Clearly, creating such visual likenesses is not Reafsnyder’s goal. Nonetheless, one senses in his paintings an Typically, a painter can achieve such an effect by loading a large brush with unmixed colors, almost preternatural reluctance to relinquish—to the vagaries of abstract “mark-making” for its relying on the physical press and drag of the brush’s flexible hairs across the surface to “blend” own sake—the types of pictorial structure and form with which tonal modeling has traditionally them together. Reafsnyder’s instrumental modification slightly alters the formula. The rigid been allied. In view of that commitment, a particular facet of Reafsnyder’s technique assumes edges of Plexiglas more readily preserve the independence of each ribbon of color. Because Red Baron (2018) array. Although his surfaces flatly contest the still-automatic tendency of viewers to compare any picture—whether figurative or abstract—to a norm of naturalistic space containing real objects, Reafsnyder nonetheless is concerned with expressing the plenitude and internal coherence of his unique space. In Red Baron (2018), vertical and horizontal striated passages mainly respect the midline x and y axes of the support. (An emergent cruciform stands out near the top right corner, where diagonal swipes meet the bars of a right angle.) The incipient cross-brace internal- izes the painting’s physical dimensions as it helps stamp out the totality of the array. At the same time, the partitioning of the surface area into approximate quadrants by these mesial passages suggests the division of a glass pane by grilles or muntins. By somewhat obvious analogy, the tactic calls to mind a central metaphor of a traditional painting as a “window.” While Reafsnyder’s abstractions obviously do not yield “views” on these terms, his surfaces nonetheless harbor something that suggests a norm of transparency. In our experience of his work, we see the power Red Baron, 2018 8 of abstract space to contain a world. 9 heretofore unremarked significance. As I mentioned above, characteristic features of his sur- Still, the contradictory commitment to flatness and depth, to planarity and dimensionality, pre- faces are the broadly swiped passages comprising sequences of vibrant color stripes that he sents Reafsnyder with a seemingly intractable problem: how to preserve a sensation of depth forms with customized flexible planks of Plexiglas. (Of course, he also uses traditional pale"e while simultaneously renouncing the chief technique—shading in light and dark—by which the knives.) In Sunny Flow (2019), a striated bar of red, orange, yellow, and purple sweeps upward imitation of space and its objects is most convincingly achieved as a visual illusion. Although from the lower edge of the canvas. Within the area, the slender parallel “lines” achieve a many modern abstract painters have endeavored to create pictorial space through color rela- degree of independence from neighboring ribbons. Yet the effect of a continuous modulation tionships rather than through tonal modeling, shading remains the most effective means of hue and value across the zone prevents us from describing those lines as independent of convincing viewers of a depiction’s verisimilitude.7 Suggesting the mass of objects by repre- “strokes.” That is, the longitudinal streaks seem to result not from a sequence of individually senting the light and dark values that consistent illumination would produce on them is a applied marks but rather from a single—almost impossibly broad—gesture (see plate p. 75).8 powerful tactic when used by artists to represent the natural world. Clearly, creating such visual likenesses is not Reafsnyder’s goal. Nonetheless, one senses in his paintings an almost Typically, a painter can achieve such an effect by loading a large brush with unmixed colors, preternatural reluctance to relinquish—to the vagaries of abstract “mark-making” for its own relying on the physical press and drag of the brush’s flexible hairs across the surface to “blend” sake—the types of pictorial structure and form with which tonal modeling has traditionally them together. Reafsnyder’s instrumental modification slightly alters the formula. The rigid been allied. In view of that commitment, a particular facet of Reafsnyder’s technique assumes edges of Plexiglas more readily preserve the independence of each ribbon of color. Because Sunny Flow (2019) King Kruiser, 2017 Charcoal Soul, 2019

the areas exhibit internal color variation plus physical striation, the wide slabs begin to suggest something like forms modeled in light and shade. (The tight or loose spacing of hues as well as

their texture suggest hatching, a conventional means for rendering illumination across a Michael Reafsnyder surface, especially in drawing and etching.)9 The re-emergence of that tonal convention, how- in the studio painting Bliss 10 ever vestigial it may be, conveys in turn the impression of volumetric fullness without resorting 11 to more traditional means of rendering naturalistic space. When Reafsnyder restricts his pal- if he is using clear plastic, he is able to see through the blade in order to determine exactly where e"e to grisaille, as he does in King Kruiser (2017) and Charcoal Soul (2019), the effect is even and when to increase or decrease pressure during a swipe. more pronounced. Finally, Reafsnyder accumulates different “value piles” of scrapes along the length of the Plexiglas, Given Reafsnyder’s eschewal of light and dark modeling proper, other features of his Plexiglas which he can use in other areas of the surface to push modeling back into the equation. instruments and their utilization deserve emphasis. The planks are either opaque (black), trans- Remarkably, at the level of his instrumentation and within his activity of painting, Reafsnyder lucent (white), or transparent (clear). In other words, the plastic material itself reproduces sets within his view and within his reach a kind of standard against which to judge and thereby the gamut of the tonal scale running from black to white (with clear acting as a middle-value control color shi#s in relation to the value scale. Although he eradicates the traditional means for gray). While painting, Reafsnyder views the Plexiglas against the “background” of the color depicting the illusion of space or depth (shading in light and dark), he preserves it in his technical surface. Depending on whether or not the plastic is clear, white, or shaded, the juxtaposition of practice (using white and dark Plexi). the plank (nearer to his eyes) and the surface (in the background) exposes the value shi#s between hues. The visual information allows him to more precisely adjust color combinations in Reafsnyder began using Plexiglas planks in 2008, a few years a#er he switched from oil to acrylic the service of the spatial and perceptual effects he seeks to realize. Moreover, the width of the paint.10 Physical differences between the two media motivated him to experiment with different blade and its angle relative to the plane permits him to frame particular views of the surface in tools and procedures of application. As he explained in an interview: progress. And Charcoal Soul (2019)

King Kruiser (2017) King Kruiser, 2017 Charcoal Soul, 2019

the areas exhibit internal color variation plus physical striation, the wide slabs begin to suggest something like forms modeled in light and shade. (The tight or loose spacing of hues as well as

their texture suggest hatching, a conventional means for rendering illumination across a Michael Reafsnyder surface, especially in drawing and etching.)9 The re-emergence of that tonal convention, how- in the studio painting Bliss 10 ever vestigial it may be, conveys in turn the impression of volumetric fullness without resorting 11 to more traditional means of rendering naturalistic space. When Reafsnyder restricts his pal- if he is using clear plastic, he is able to see through the blade in order to determine exactly e"e to grisaille, as he does in King Kruiser (2017) and Charcoal Soul (2019), the effect is even where and when to increase or decrease pressure during a swipe. more pronounced. Finally, Reafsnyder accumulates different “value piles” of scrapes along the length of the Given Reafsnyder’s eschewal of light and dark modeling proper, other features of his Plexiglas Plexiglas, which he can use in other areas of the surface to push modeling back into the instruments and their utilization deserve emphasis. The planks are either opaque (black), trans- equation. Remarkably, at the level of his instrumentation and within his activity of painting, lucent (white), or transparent (clear). In other words, the plastic material itself reproduces the Reafsnyder sets within his view and within his reach a kind of standard against which to judge gamut of the tonal scale running from black to white (with clear acting as a middle-value gray). and thereby control color shi#s in relation to the value scale. Although he eradicates the While painting, Reafsnyder views the Plexiglas against the “background” of the color surface. traditional means for depicting the illusion of space or depth (shading in light and dark), he Depending on whether or not the plastic is clear, white, or shaded, the juxtaposition of the plank preserves it in his technical practice (using white and dark Plexi). (nearer to his eyes) and the surface (in the background) exposes the value shi#s between hues. The visual information allows him to more precisely adjust color combinations in the service of Reafsnyder began using Plexiglas planks in 2008, a few years a#er he switched from oil to the spatial and perceptual effects he seeks to realize. Moreover, the width of the blade and its acrylic paint.10 Physical differences between the two media motivated him to experiment with angle relative to the plane permits him to frame particular views of the surface in progress. And different tools and procedures of application. As he explained in an interview:

With oil you could always go back into [the painting]. You could make decisions, but you could flub them a li"le bit, you could manipulate the timing a li"le bit. But with acrylic those decisions have to be made faster, and they become much more specific.11

Hence, the importance of devising a way to keep painterly options open even as decisions have already been made: a large piece of Plexiglas functions not just as an instrument for regulating color, but as a “pale"e” that preserves along its length a material record of Reafsnyder’s artistic Masaccio, Expulsion of Adam and Eve from Eden, Brancacci Chapel, Santa Maria del choices—and that can be mined for alternative routes, the roads not taken. Moreover, the plank Carmine, Florence, Italy, ca. 1424–1427 can switch instantly from being a tool of accumulation and application to one of excavation and Pisanello, The Virgin and Child with Saint modification: its color piles can be transferred to other areas of the canvas, or its edges can be George and Saint Anthony Abbot, used to gouge a line or contour into layers of paint. Not only does Reafsnyder cut Plexiglas to ca. 1435–41 © National Gallery, London 12 various lengths and widths, he also manages thickness. Variable combinations of these properties 13 determine the degree of flex in the plank and the tension or relaxation of movement it will allow. Century Italy, Baxandall compares the Tuscan convention of suggesting mass by representing the Incised lines sca"ered across the surface of Bliss owe their gawky appearance to the sharp tones of light and shade on an object or body under consistent illumination (think of Masaccio) corner of a piece of Plexi long enough to be unwieldy (see image p. 11). The painter nonetheless with a divergent north Italian tradition exemplified by Pisanello.12 In The Virgin and Child with Saint managed to use it as a scratchy stylus. George and Saint Anthony Abbot, the twisting edges of St. George’s armor (which seem to encircle his le# arm like ivy winding around a branch) visualize the rotation of masses in volumetric When accounting for the historical dominance of imitation within Western visual space, without solely relying on shading. representation, scholars o#en privilege the technique of light and dark shading. To be sure, chiaroscuro is a highly efficient means of suggesting the likeness of a mass in space. And in Once we have identified the convention of employing snaking contour lines to suggest torsion instances where value modeling is employed in conjunction with one-point perspective, the independently of chiaroscuro in Pisanello’s art, it becomes easier to see how the technique results have proved to be authoritative. But there exists another important, although less pertains to describing certain features of Reafsnyder’s surfaces. Here again, a careful technical frequently highlighted, technique for suggesting form: one that relies on the manipulation of analysis of the image is crucial. In Sea Friends (2019), Reafsnyder creates “dimensional” yet complex contours. The art historian Michael Baxandall has pointed out a basic contrast “fla"ened” space by overlapping striated color areas with irregular contours. Although some of between the two modes that helps illuminate a key feature of Reafsnyder’s art. (Although it those passages are actually swiped over previous applications, they o#en appear to be on the might seem unusual to invoke an analysis of Renaissance painting in the context of an essay same plane, so one of the strongest visual cues for signaling depth—one plane or object obstruct- on contemporary abstraction, there are good reasons to do so, as will become clear.) In his landmark Painting and Experience in Fi!eenth With oil you could always go back into [the painting]. You could make decisions, but you could flub them a li"le bit, you could manipulate the timing a li"le bit. But with acrylic those decisions have to be made faster, and they become much more specific.11

Hence, the importance of devising a way to keep painterly options open even as decisions have already been made: a large piece of Plexiglas functions not just as an instrument for regulating color, but as a “pale"e” that preserves along its length a material record of Reafsnyder’s artistic choices— Masaccio, Expulsion of Adam and Eve from Eden, Brancacci Chapel, Santa Maria del and that can be mined for alternative routes, the roads not taken. Moreover, the plank can switch Carmine, Florence, Italy, ca. 1424–1427 instantly from being a tool of accumulation and application to one of excavation and modification: its Pisanello, The Virgin and Child with Saint color piles can be transferred to other areas of the canvas, or its edges can be used to gouge a line George and Saint Anthony Abbot, or contour into layers of paint. Not only does Reafsnyder cut Plexiglas to various lengths and widths, ca. 1435–41 © National Gallery, London 12 he also manages thickness. Variable combinations of these properties determine the degree of flex 13 in the plank and the tension or relaxation of movement it will allow. Incised lines sca"ered across the Century Italy, Baxandall compares the Tuscan convention of suggesting mass by representing surface of Bliss owe their gawky appearance to the sharp corner of a piece of Plexi long enough to the tones of light and shade on an object or body under consistent illumination (think of be unwieldy (see image p. 11). The painter nonetheless managed to use it as a scratchy stylus. Masaccio) with a divergent north Italian tradition exemplified by Pisanello.12 In The Virgin and Child with Saint George and Saint Anthony Abbot, the twisting edges of St. George’s armor When accounting for the historical dominance of imitation within Western visual representation, (which seem to encircle his le# arm like ivy winding around a branch) visualize the rotation of scholars o#en privilege the technique of light and dark shading. To be sure, chiaroscuro is a masses in volumetric space, without solely relying on shading. highly efficient means of suggesting the likeness of a mass in space. And in instances where value modeling is employed in conjunction with one-point perspective, the results have proved to be Once we have identified the convention of employing snaking contour lines to suggest torsion authoritative. But there exists another important, although less frequently highlighted, technique independently of chiaroscuro in Pisanello’s art, it becomes easier to see how the technique for suggesting form: one that relies on the manipulation of complex contours. The art historian pertains to describing certain features of Reafsnyder’s surfaces. Here again, a careful technical Michael Baxandall has pointed out a basic contrast between the two modes that helps illuminate analysis of the image is crucial. In Sea Friends (2019), Reafsnyder creates “dimensional” yet a key feature of Reafsnyder’s art. (Although it might seem unusual to invoke an analysis of “fla"ened” space by overlapping striated color areas with irregular contours. Although some of Renaissance painting in the context of an essay on contemporary abstraction, there are good those passages are actually swiped over previous applications, they o#en appear to be on the reasons to do so, as will become clear.) In his landmark Painting and Experience in Fi!eenth same plane, so one of the strongest visual cues for signaling depth—one plane or object obstruct- Masaccio Pisanello Sea Friends (2019) ing the view of another—is compromised. But since, as I’ve already suggested, the color ribbons 3: Siting within the striated zones function like parallel lines used to model forms in space, it is as if Reafsnyder simultaneously provides us with a conventional cue for depicting masses in Reafsnyder self-consciously involves himself with certain recalcitrant but ineluctable formal volumetric space (hatching) and rescinds another (occlusion). In other words, he draws our problems of painting, such as those I’ve been discussing. “Creating volume is a tricky space in my sight into the field (thus soliciting us to enter the painting’s depth), yet he immediately moves mind,” he has said, continuing: the viewer’s eyes across the surface (thus deflecting our entrance into the painting’s depth) (see plate p. 37). The sheer adjacency of color areas begins to contribute to the vertiginous I o#en think about how it is possible to create the tension that potential effect. The painter’s multi-directional drags, pulls, peels, and excavations produce scraped volume contains while still moving the viewer’s sight across the surface. . . . edges between contiguous areas of paint. These meandering ridges and winding “lines” seem I o#en wonder how full a volume can be before too much space is to twist and turn into space like those of St. George’s armor. For instance, just above dead created. . . . I see [indications of volume] as a device to create an effect of center and to the right of a loopy personage, observe the interruption of a mostly red, blue, deep space that refuses to ever go back, while fulfilling the desire to do so.13 and purple by an aqua passage that channels through it. While it might be inaccurate to 14 describe the edge between them as a proper line, it nonetheless begins to function as the This statement reflects a seriousness of purpose that might seem at odds with the playful exu- 15 implied contour of a complex form. The dynamic effect bears comparison to Pisanello’s berance exemplified by his buoyant art. But as testimony to Reafsnyder’s commitment to engag- intricate silhoue"es, which situate masses and activate their rotation in illusionistic space. ing with such problems, consider another aspect of his practice. Around the same time that he began using various shades of Plexiglas planks to preserve his sense of tonal modeling and value Given what we have seen of Reafsnyder’s exacting manipulation of materials and techniques shi#s while painting brightly colored surfaces, he made a habit of diagramming masterworks of in pursuit of surfaces and imagery with particular effects of spacing and facing, none of this Renaissance and Mannerist artists, including Titian, Pontormo, Rosso Fiorentino, Jacopo Bassano, should be surprising. But what is extraordinary is the mounting evidence of his keen sensitivity and Tintore"o. to traditional problems that are central to painting as an art. He demonstrates that those problems—and the contemporary visualization of solutions to them—continue to be at the Since Reafsnyder chooses not to work from plans or sketches, it would be a mistake to construe heart of discovering what painting (now) can do. And what it can do is nothing less than to the diagrams as templates for paintings. Still, the exercise has sensitized him even more to the investigate the present conditions and historical conventions under which pictorial strategies by which past artists have staged interactions between persons within narrative communication is possible. scenes. Moreover, the practice helps him see how painters have contended with characters and their actions in relation both to the work’s literal surface and its depicted space. In his diagram of Titian’s The Education of Amor (ca. 1488/90–1576), Reafsnyder has drawn a network of lines over a schematic rendering of the group (Venus, Cupid, his brother, and two nymphs). Diagonals ing the view of another—is compromised. But since, as I’ve already suggested, the color ribbons 3: Siting within the striated zones function like parallel lines used to model forms in space, it is as if Reafsnyder simultaneously provides us with a conventional cue for depicting masses in volumetric Reafsnyder self-consciously involves himself with certain recalcitrant but ineluctable space (hatching) and rescinds another (occlusion). In other words, he draws our sight into the formal problems of painting, such as those I’ve been discussing. “Creating volume is a tricky field (thus soliciting us to enter the painting’s depth), yet he immediately moves the viewer’s eyes space in my mind,” he has said, continuing: across the surface (thus deflecting our entrance into the painting’s depth) (see plate p. 37). The I o#en think about how it is possible to create the tension that potential sheer adjacency of color areas begins to contribute to the vertiginous effect. The painter’s volume contains while still moving the viewer’s sight across the multi-directional drags, pulls, peels, and excavations produce scraped edges between contigu- surface. . . . I o#en wonder how full a volume can be before too much ous areas of paint. These meandering ridges and winding “lines” seem to twist and turn into space is created. . . . I see [indications of volume] as a device to create space like those of St. George’s armor. For instance, just above dead center and to the right of a an effect of deep space that refuses to ever go back, while fulfilling the loopy personage, observe the interruption of a mostly red, blue, and purple by an aqua passage desire to do so.13 that channels through it. While it might be inaccurate to describe the edge between them as a 14 proper line, it nonetheless begins to function as the implied contour of a complex form. The This statement reflects a seriousness of purpose that might seem at odds with the playful exu- 15 dynamic effect bears comparison to Pisanello’s intricate silhoue"es, which situate masses and berance exemplified by his buoyant art. But as testimony to Reafsnyder’s commitment to activate their rotation in illusionistic space. engaging with such problems, consider another aspect of his practice. Around the same time that he began using various shades of Plexiglas planks to preserve his sense of tonal modeling Given what we have seen of Reafsnyder’s exacting manipulation of materials and techniques in and value shi#s while painting brightly colored surfaces, he made a habit of diagramming pursuit of surfaces and imagery with particular effects of spacing and facing, none of this should be masterworks of Renaissance and Mannerist artists, including Titian, Pontormo, Rosso surprising. But what is extraordinary is the mounting evidence of his keen sensitivity to traditional Fiorentino, Jacopo Bassano, and Tintore"o. problems that are central to painting as an art. He demonstrates that those problems—and the contemporary visualization of solutions to them—continue to be at the heart of discovering what Since Reafsnyder chooses not to work from plans or sketches, it would be a mistake to painting (now) can do. And what it can do is nothing less than to investigate the present conditions construe the diagrams as templates for paintings. Still, the exercise has sensitized him even and historical conventions under which pictorial communication is possible. more to the strategies by which past artists have staged interactions between persons within narrative scenes. Moreover, the practice helps him see how painters have contended with characters and their actions in relation both to the work’s literal surface and its depicted space. In his diagram of Titian’s The Education of Amor (ca. 1488/90–1576), Reafsnyder has drawn a network of lines over a schematic rendering of the group (Venus, Cupid, his brother, and two nymphs). Diagonals

ruled from corner to corner mark the geometric center of an ideal picture plane, which is also pinpointed by intersecting horizontal and vertical midlines. But it is important to note that aside from those precisely measured crossings, the linear scaffold Reafsnyder has sketched does not mathematically subdivide the surface. His diagrams are not grids, nor are they motivated by an interest in mapping the abstract geometries underlying compositional unity (or even in discover-ing hidden symmetries). Rather, they track pa"erns of interaction. The other lines of the diagram indicate the invisible lines of sight that bind the protagonists to each other through the exchange of glances—or in the case of the blindfolded Cupid, glances not exchanged.

In the margin of his diagram proper, Reafsnyder has rendered two of Titian’s figures in the style of his personages. The grinning faces are the creaturely translation of the nymphs who deliver 16 to Cupid his traditional accoutrements: a bow and a quiver filled with the arrows of love (aptly, Diagram of Titian, 2019 17 those darts are themselves metaphors of amorous glances between the eyes of soon-to-be lovers). But Reafsnyder is not simply using the nymphs as models for his own imagery. The between a personage and the place where the personage is sited. This will involve entertaining transcribed faces are an idiosyncratic re-imagining and intensification of the affective and a distinction between the surface as an actual physical substrate and the painting as a virtual existential modes of being he a"ributes to Titian’s characters. In other words, Reafsnyder’s image. Since positioning the creatures constitutes Reafsnyder’s final act of painting, it is possible diagrams are not merely a tool for analyzing compositions (as if he were simply trying to to understand his prior procedures of spreading, layering, marking, drawing, and excavating paint discern the mechanics of picturing); nor are they raw material for future paintings. Rather, they on the canvas as the material condition of their production. (In fact, it can take as long for him to are the means by which he contemplates the relationship between the inhabitants of Titian’s position the entities as it does for him to paint the rest of the surface, and it involves a significant allegorical world and the pictorial space within which they exist and act. The relevance of the amount of deliberation, experiment, and reworking.) exercise for Reafsnyder’s pictures should be clear. In the upper right corner of Paint Chew (2019), for instance, Reafsnyder used a pale"e knife There are a number of considerations to bear in mind when thinking about the appearance of to slice into a broad passage of white and dig out a double-crested pink line. The mark appar- Reafsnyder’s multiplex personages. The li"le figures are essential not only for guiding a ently motivated him to continue its trajectory: the whiplash line springs into the contour of a viewer’s eyesight across the plane, but also for establishing each painting’s mood, tone, or schematic figure which now confidently occupies the quadrant.14 Furthermore, the genetic evo- scale (both physical and temporal). More strongly stated, they are vital to the meaning each lution of straightforwardly physical marks into a biomorphic life form is evident in the pink line’s work contains. Thus, assessing their distinct types of materialization and modes of existence is paramount for the task of interpretation. As a first step, we must take into account the formal relationship ruled from corner to corner mark the geometric center of an ideal picture plane, which is also pinpointed by intersecting horizontal and vertical midlines. But it is important to note that aside from those precisely measured crossings, the linear scaffold Reafsnyder has sketched does not mathematically subdivide the surface. His diagrams are not grids, nor are they motivated by an interest in mapping the abstract geometries underlying compositional unity (or even in discover- ing hidden symmetries). Rather, they track pa"erns of interaction. The other lines of the diagram indicate the invisible lines of sight that bind the protagonists to each other through the exchange of glances—or in the case of the blindfolded Cupid, glances not exchanged.

In the margin of his diagram proper, Reafsnyder has rendered two of Titian’s figures in the style of his personages. The grinning faces are the creaturely translation of the nymphs who deliver to Cupid his traditional accoutrements: a bow and a quiver filled with the arrows of love (aptly, those 16 darts are themselves metaphors of amorous glances between the eyes of soon-to-be lovers). But Diagram of Titian, 2019 17 Reafsnyder is not simply using the nymphs as models for his own imagery. The transcribed faces are an idiosyncratic re-imagining and intensification of the affective and existential modes of being he between a personage and the place where the personage is sited. This will involve entertaining a"ributes to Titian’s characters. In other words, Reafsnyder’s diagrams are not merely a tool for a distinction between the surface as an actual physical substrate and the painting as a virtual analyzing compositions (as if he were simply trying to discern the mechanics of picturing); nor are image. Since positioning the creatures constitutes Reafsnyder’s final act of painting, it is they raw material for future paintings. Rather, they are the means by which he contemplates the possible to understand his prior procedures of spreading, layering, marking, drawing, and relationship between the inhabitants of Titian’s allegorical world and the pictorial space within excavating paint on the canvas as the material condition of their production. (In fact, it can take which they exist and act. The relevance of the exercise for Reafsnyder’s pictures should be clear. as long for him to position the entities as it does for him to paint the rest of the surface, and it involves a significant amount of deliberation, experiment, and reworking.) There are a number of considerations to bear in mind when thinking about the appearance of Reafsnyder’s multiplex personages. The li"le figures are essential not only for guiding a viewer’s In the upper right corner of Paint Chew (2019), for instance, Reafsnyder used a pale"e eyesight across the plane, but also for establishing each painting’s mood, tone, or scale (both knife to slice into a broad passage of white and dig out a double-crested pink line. The mark physical and temporal). More strongly stated, they are vital to the meaning each work contains. apparently motivated him to continue its trajectory: the whiplash line springs into the contour Thus, assessing their distinct types of materialization and modes of existence is paramount for of a schematic figure which now confidently occupies the quadrant.14 Furthermore, the genetic the task of interpretation. As a first step, we must take into account the formal relationship evolution of straightforwardly physical marks into a biomorphic life form is evident in the pink line’s Paint Chew (2019) resemblance to part of the creature’s silhoue"e, specifically the double-bumped undulation of physical substrate and the virtual image. Or rather, they demonstrate that what we o#en con- back, ear (or fin?), and forehead (see plate p. 59). Even the partitioned field “behind” the figure strue in abstract art as mere accident is in Reafsnyder’s paintings meaningful pictorial incident. becomes integral to its anatomy and physiognomy: the belly is defined by a blue passage, while The appearance of the personages thematizes the subordination of process (means) to the the abu"ing areas of green and red divide the face into le# and right halves to make the ridge emergent order of the painting’s projected world (ends). There is the impression that each mark of a nose or snout. (Speaking figuratively, one could say that the entity incorporates the in the field, and each installation of a figure, is the result of point-by-point decisions and coordi- field.) Analogous concordances regulate the appearance of the personage in the lower right nation. And insofar as that structure of intention is felt to permeate the field, it becomes possible corner of Sweet Falls. The straight line defining the side of its face continues the terminal ray to see Reafsnyder’s personages as entities produced not by purely physical or material condi- of the fan-like “cha"er” behind it, while its rippled outline echoes the wobbly swipes of paint tions, but as inspired into being by the painting as a total environment. Or perhaps it begins to that are promi-nent in the surrounding region (see plate p. 83). seem as if they are self-originating, flashing in and out of existence like subatomic particles. Although there is a sense of contingency to their appearance, so too is there a sense of their In these two instances, the figure’s appearance seems governed by or responsive to inevitability and autonomy. preexisting marks or passages in the immediate vicinity, but the relation can work the other 18 way around. In the lower right corner of Super Scoop, Reafsnyder used the flat edge of a As inhabitants of the virtual world projected by the painting (not just squiggles on a material 19 pale"e knife or a piece of Plexiglas to press and drag part of a figure’s contour to the le#, surface), the personages demand our a"ention in specific ways. On a basic level, they control our creating a broad, striped passage (see plate p. 79). The a"ached personage now seems to pa"ern of visual scanning by soliciting us to follow their lines of sight or directional movement streak toward the right edge of the canvas, its velocity registered visibly by the bands of color across the plane, laterally deflecting our views of deep space. More complex is what we might call trailing it. In shape and internal variation, the striped passage resembles the other mosaic-like their modes of existence. We are asked not only to notice the ways the personages are incorpo- pieces that tile the picture. In fact, its insistence that we perceive it as a single stroke and the rated into or excluded from the field, but also to contemplate the character of the relationship impression that it lies on top of the surface begin to suggest that it may be the chief unit between each personage and the environment in which it dwells. Naturally, this requires us to among the overlapping planes that compose the field as a whole. Instead of the creature detect nuances in the possible relationships between one personage and another. There are taking its cue from the field, the field seems to take its cue from the figure—as if reorganizing four entities in the aforementioned Sweet Falls, each occupying a quadrant of the canvas. Most itself around the sudden appearance of an anomaly. pronounced is the figure outlined against a white background: finned, fusiform, and smiling, it seems happily immersed in a fluid medium as it darts right. (The invocation of “falls” in the title, along with Although Reafsnyder did not haphazardly execute the actions that initially produced the the paint’s slick application and the tableau’s predominant blues seems to sanction liquid meta- passages I’ve been discussing, they nonetheless belong to a type of gestural mark-making phors.) Trailing it are four or five lines of cha"er, spread like a fan. The staccato blades channel the that is energy of the surrounding area into the creature’s body, further bolstering the impression that o#en linked to Abstract Expressionism, and consequently to various cultural values associated it is continuous with the painting and its projected space, swimming “inside” it (see plate p. 83). The with spontaneity and indeterminacy.15 Yet there is a more pertinent basis on which to assess his strategies. The personages establish a sense of a thoroughly motivated relationship between the Sweet Falls (2019) Super Scoop (2019) resemblance to part of the creature’s silhoue"e, specifically the double-bumped undulation of physical substrate and the virtual image. Or rather, they demonstrate that what we o#en back, ear (or fin?), and forehead (see plate p. 59). Even the partitioned field “behind” the figure construe in abstract art as mere accident is in Reafsnyder’s paintings meaningful pictorial becomes integral to its anatomy and physiognomy: the belly is defined by a blue passage, while incident. The appearance of the personages thematizes the subordination of process the abu"ing areas of green and red divide the face into le# and right halves to make the ridge of (means) to the emergent order of the painting’s projected world (ends). There is the a nose or snout. (Speaking figuratively, one could say that the entity incorporates the field.) impression that each mark in the field, and each installation of a figure, is the result of point-by- Analogous concordances regulate the appearance of the personage in the lower right corner of point decisions and coordi-nation. And insofar as that structure of intention is felt to permeate Sweet Falls. The straight line defining the side of its face continues the terminal ray of the fan-like the field, it becomes possible to see Reafsnyder’s personages as entities produced not by “cha"er” behind it, while its rippled outline echoes the wobbly swipes of paint that are promi- purely physical or material conditions, but as inspired into being by the painting as a total nent in the surrounding region (see plate p. 83). environment. Or perhaps it begins to seem as if they are self-originating, flashing in and out of existence like subatomic particles. Although there is a sense of contingency to their In these two instances, the figure’s appearance seems governed by or responsive to preexisting appearance, so too is there a sense of their inevitability and autonomy. marks or passages in the immediate vicinity, but the relation can work the other way around. 18 In the lower right corner of Super Scoop, Reafsnyder used the flat edge of a pale"e knife or a piece As inhabitants of the virtual world projected by the painting (not just squiggles on a 19 of Plexiglas to press and drag part of a figure’s contour to the le#, creating a broad, striped passage material surface), the personages demand our a"ention in specific ways. On a basic level, they (see plate p. 79). The a"ached personage now seems to streak toward the right edge of the canvas, control our pa"ern of visual scanning by soliciting us to follow their lines of sight or its velocity registered visibly by the bands of color trailing it. In shape and internal variation, the directional movement across the plane, laterally deflecting our views of deep space. More striped passage resembles the other mosaic-like pieces that tile the picture. In fact, its insistence complex is what we might call their modes of existence. We are asked not only to notice the that we perceive it as a single stroke and the impression that it lies on top of the surface begin to ways the personages are incorpo-rated into or excluded from the field, but also to contemplate suggest that it may be the chief unit among the overlapping planes that compose the field as a the character of the relationship between each personage and the environment in which it whole. Instead of the creature taking its cue from the field, the field seems to take its cue from the dwells. Naturally, this requires us to detect nuances in the possible relationships between figure—as if reorganizing itself around the sudden appearance of an anomaly. one personage and another. There are four entities in the aforementioned Sweet Falls, each occupying a quadrant of the canvas. Most pronounced is the figure outlined against a white Although Reafsnyder did not haphazardly execute the actions that initially produced the pas- background: finned, fusiform, and smiling, it seems happily immersed in a fluid medium as it sages I’ve been discussing, they nonetheless belong to a type of gestural mark-making that is darts right. (The invocation of “falls” in the title, along with the paint’s slick application and the o#en linked to Abstract Expressionism, and consequently to various cultural values associated tableau’s predominant blues seems to sanction liquid metaphors.) Trailing it are four or five with spontaneity and indeterminacy.15 Yet there is a more pertinent basis on which to assess his lines of cha"er, spread like a fan. The staccato blades channel the energy of the surrounding strategies. The personages establish a sense of a thoroughly motivated relationship between the area into the creature’s body, further bolstering the impression that it is continuous with the painting and its projected space, swimming “inside” it (see plate p. 83). The Sweet Falls (2019) cha"er marks also compositionally direct our a"ention to another figure, harder to see, in a"empt is made to accommodate the creature’s presence in the field. The successful integration the upper le# corner of the canvas. This one’s double-line silhoue"e sits definitively on top of the of the personage into the abstract array marks the moment of the painting’s completion. As a surface, and therefore renders the figure somewhat excluded from, or “outside,” the pool. finalizing touch, it also marks a moment of separation. Reafsnyder explained to an interviewer: Bulbous and grinning, this personage locks its wide-eyed gaze on the other personage, whom it now seems jealously to chase. They are in competition. But what is the basis of their rivalry? When I paint, I get so into it and so wrapped up in it that I always wondered how I’d detach myself from the paintings. . . [I] was concerned with how to place The schematic figures are notations of a"itudes, a kind of graphic shorthand for psychological marks in the surface of the painting that would serve as an indication that I’d states. Over time, they accrue a dimension of individuality, even personality, however strangely finished with it. There was always a mark that I would make, like the sign-off, like alien it might be. In conversation, Reafsnyder frequently discusses the social dynamic of now it can go into the world.17 personages in terms of what we might call their psychogeography: that is, the way their intersubjective relationships are conditioned by their relative immersion within or exclusion The personages are that mark. In coming to life, they correspondingly function as signs of the from the painted field. In Sweet Falls, the heavy outline of the second personage compromises painting’s creation, its origin or birth as an independent or autonomous presence. While the 20 its full submersion in the painting’s projected space, a circumstance that contrasts markedly work is the realization of an artistic intent, the painter and the painting seem at this moment of 21 with its marine companion, who teases the excommunicated one. It thus becomes possible to parturition to stand toward one another as separate entities facing one another (as if meeting for understand the two figures as competing for pictorial “depth.” While the possession of one and the first time). Lest that sound overly metaphysical, recall that artists commonly a"est to the the dispossession of pictorial depth by the other sets up an antagonism, the contest is condition Reafsnyder describes: feeling radically continuous with their works, of experiencing an tempered by a buoyant humor that moderates any sense of cruelty or violence. That optimism immersion or absorption so powerful that disengagement may come as a surprise. But equally is characteristic of the personages across Reafsnyder’s work.16 prevalent are accounts testifying to the fecundity of separation, in which the painting’s actuality takes definitive form.18 Where and when they appear, the personages cultivate a painting’s particularity and its distinct manner of self-signaling. They do so by inspiring viewers to adjust incrementally to the dimen- sions of space and time that they occupy. The keying of a beholder’s a"ention to the 4: Timing specific nature of their appearance seems appropriate given the a"ention Reafsnyder lavishes on their situation. As I mentioned, personages always come last in the painting process, and Reafsnyder’s areas of operation are replete with passages of sweeps, drags, ridges, pools, blobs, their placement can take as long as all the painter’s previous activities combined. The eyes are excavations, lines, and drops. While naturalistic painters aspire to suppress signs of fabrication, set down first, followed by mouth and silhoue"e; should Reafsnyder deem placement, such as brushstrokes, to suspend a viewer’s awareness of the actual canvas surface (in other expression, or shape insufficient, the entity is removed by scraping, and the ground is words, to create the illusionistic effect that the picture is a window onto the world), for abstract reworked before another cha"er marks also compositionally direct our a"ention to another figure, harder to see, in the a"empt is made to accommodate the creature’s presence in the field. The successful upper le# corner of the canvas. This one’s double-line silhoue"e sits definitively on top of the sur- integration of the personage into the abstract array marks the moment of the painting’s face, and therefore renders the figure somewhat excluded from, or “outside,” the pool. Bulbous completion. As a finalizing touch, it also marks a moment of separation. Reafsnyder explained and grinning, this personage locks its wide-eyed gaze on the other personage, whom it now seems to an interviewer: jealously to chase. They are in competition. But what is the basis of their rivalry? When I paint, I get so into it and so wrapped up in it that I always wondered how I’d detach myself from the paintings. . . [I] was concerned with how to The schematic figures are notations of a"itudes, a kind of graphic shorthand for psychological place marks in the surface of the painting that would serve as an indication states. Over time, they accrue a dimension of individuality, even personality, however strangely that I’d finished with it. There was always a mark that I would make, like the alien it might be. In conversation, Reafsnyder frequently discusses the social dynamic of person- sign-off, like now it can go into the world.17 ages in terms of what we might call their psychogeography: that is, the way their intersubjective relationships are conditioned by their relative immersion within or exclusion from the painted The personages are that mark. In coming to life, they correspondingly function as signs of field. In Sweet Falls, the heavy outline of the second personage compromises its full submersion the painting’s creation, its origin or birth as an independent or autonomous presence. While 20 in the painting’s projected space, a circumstance that contrasts markedly with its marine com- the work is the realization of an artistic intent, the painter and the painting seem at this 21 panion, who teases the excommunicated one. It thus becomes possible to understand the two moment of parturition to stand toward one another as separate entities facing one another (as figures as competing for pictorial “depth.” While the possession of one and the dispossession of if meeting for the first time). Lest that sound overly metaphysical, recall that artists pictorial depth by the other sets up an antagonism, the contest is tempered by a buoyant humor commonly a"est to the condition Reafsnyder describes: feeling radically continuous with their that moderates any sense of cruelty or violence. That optimism is characteristic of the person- works, of experiencing an immersion or absorption so powerful that disengagement may come ages across Reafsnyder’s work.16 as a surprise. But equally prevalent are accounts testifying to the fecundity of separation, in which the painting’s actuality takes definitive form.18 Where and when they appear, the personages cultivate a painting’s particularity and its distinct manner of self-signaling. They do so by inspiring viewers to adjust incrementally to the dimen- sions of space and time that they occupy. The keying of a beholder’s a"ention to the specific 4: Timing nature of their appearance seems appropriate given the a"ention Reafsnyder lavishes on their situation. As I mentioned, personages always come last in the painting process, and their place- Reafsnyder’s areas of operation are replete with passages of sweeps, drags, ridges, pools, ment can take as long as all the painter’s previous activities combined. The eyes are set down blobs, excavations, lines, and drops. While naturalistic painters aspire to suppress signs of first, followed by mouth and silhoue"e; should Reafsnyder deem placement, expression, or fabrication, such as brushstrokes, to suspend a viewer’s awareness of the actual canvas shape insufficient, the entity is removed by scraping, and the ground is reworked before another surface (in other words, to create the illusionistic effect that the picture is a window onto the world), for abstract painters the procedures of manufacture are conspicuously present. As residues of an Observe the substantial blue line to the right of the ballistic figure and perpendicular to its tra- artist’s handiwork (whether intended as a demonstration of skill or as its willful repudiation), jectory. It parallels the vertical edge of the canvas, sectioning off a slim margin from the larger the artist’s marks call a"ention to the materiality of the medium and to the temporality of hand field. Toward the bo"om of that reserve area, a swipe comprising a sequence of orange, blue, and and surface. Such a claim is nothing new: the critical potential of modernist physicality has purple bands appears just off center from the creature’s flight path. On closer inspection, the been evoked repeatedly since the nineteenth century in contradistinction to traditional slender passage and the personage share the same, or at least a similar, pa"ern of alternating art’s privileging of narrative events transpiring in illusionistic space. colors. In fact, it seems to be the remainder of the paint that Reafsnyder used to enliven the personage. Notice that the striations near the right edge are the inverse of those trailing the In the history of abstract painting, artists have developed various strategies to regulate a creature (that is, the color sequence is flipped upside-down relative to the first). A speculative beholder’s sense of what we might call a work’s timing. The emphasis signals a double meaning: reconstruction of the procedure that may have produced this mirroring is possible. A#er apply- timing can refer both to the pace by which a viewer is encouraged to perceive the external ing the creature’s tail with a flat blade by smoothing out a substantial quantity of paint (swiping canvas as a visual totality (the spectrum runs from a single glance to an extended gaze), and to right to le#), Reafsnyder rotated the instrument 180 degrees and deposited the residue of the the internal pacing of the painting’s fictional world (protracted or momentary as the case may first application at the painting’s margin (swiping le# to right). 22 be). A painted surface can exemplify numerous temporal scales, including that of the artist’s 23 touch (a “timing” of the physical surface and its handling) and that of the virtual projection (the The physical connection is the foundation for a significant theme: because the color pa"ern of “timing” of the image, whether abstract or representational). The capacity of a painting to the marginal passage closely resembles that of the “tail” of the figure’s body, one could see it as confer a singleness of aspect (analog image) upon what are in fact the discrete moments of an a displaced part of the creature’s anatomy. But since the streaking tail is also meant to indicate artist’s deliberate marking of a surface (digital handling) sets up yet another differential its lateral movement, the marginal passage can be seen to anticipate and visually project the measure.19 figure’s itinerary beyond the limits of the canvas. To describe the temporal effect of this visual shi# requires combining grammatical tenses: the color lines at the edge of the canvas presently The formal problem of abstraction’s infinitely flexible pictorial spaces and the modes of tempo- indicate what will have been the trailing streaks of the personage’s transverse motion a!er it has rality to which they give rise is a historical one of which Reafsnyder is keenly aware. His le# the frame. (There is even perhaps the sense that it has already le# the frame, and that the personages play a key role in the unfolding drama. For instance, I drew a"ention above to the smiling personage we see has somehow just returned a#er its momentary disappearance. We speeding personage in the lower right corner of Super Scoop in terms of its formal relationship are witness to an alien world with neither a standard chronology nor a guarantee of natural to the tiled swipes that constitute the overall field: it is as if the creature’s sudden appearance cause-and-effect relationships.) Reafsnyder’s formal displacement figures the simultaneity, triggered an immediate reconfiguration of the total array. But the instantaneity I’ve a"ributed exchangeability, or even reversibility of immediate, antecedent, and subsequent “moments” in to the figure is not unqualified. In fact, the temporality of the visual field that the personage painting (used here as both a noun and a verb). Once we have detected the operation of that inaugurates turns out to be much more complex than one might initially suspect (see plate p. paradoxical or recursive synchronization, we discover it to be a general effect in his art. 79). Super Scoop (2019) painters the procedures of manufacture are conspicuously present. As residues of an artist’s Observe the substantial blue line to the right of the ballistic figure and perpendicular to its tra- handiwork (whether intended as a demonstration of skill or as its willful repudiation), the artist’s jectory. It parallels the vertical edge of the canvas, sectioning off a slim margin from the larger marks call a"ention to the materiality of the medium and to the temporality of hand and surface. field. Toward the bo"om of that reserve area, a swipe comprising a sequence of orange, blue, Such a claim is nothing new: the critical potential of modernist physicality has been evoked and purple bands appears just off center from the creature’s flight path. On closer repeatedly since the nineteenth century in contradistinction to traditional art’s privileging of inspection, the slender passage and the personage share the same, or at least a similar, narrative events transpiring in illusionistic space. pa"ern of alternating colors. In fact, it seems to be the remainder of the paint that Reafsnyder used to enliven the personage. Notice that the striations near the right edge are In the history of abstract painting, artists have developed various strategies to regulate a behold- the inverse of those trailing the creature (that is, the color sequence is flipped upside-down er’s sense of what we might call a work’s timing. The emphasis signals a double meaning: timing relative to the first). A speculative reconstruction of the procedure that may have produced can refer both to the pace by which a viewer is encouraged to perceive the external canvas as a this mirroring is possible. A#er applying the creature’s tail with a flat blade by smoothing out a visual totality (the spectrum runs from a single glance to an extended gaze), and to the internal substantial quantity of paint (swiping right to le#), Reafsnyder rotated the instrument 180 pacing of the painting’s fictional world (protracted or momentary as the case may be). A painted degrees and deposited the residue of the first application at the painting’s margin (swiping le# 22 surface can exemplify numerous temporal scales, including that of the artist’s touch (a “timing” of to right). 23 the physical surface and its handling) and that of the virtual projection (the “timing” of the image, whether abstract or representational). The capacity of a painting to confer a singleness of aspect The physical connection is the foundation for a significant theme: because the color pa"ern of (analog image) upon what are in fact the discrete moments of an artist’s deliberate marking of a the marginal passage closely resembles that of the “tail” of the figure’s body, one could see it surface (digital handling) sets up yet another differential measure.19 as a displaced part of the creature’s anatomy. But since the streaking tail is also meant to indicate its lateral movement, the marginal passage can be seen to anticipate and visually The formal problem of abstraction’s infinitely flexible pictorial spaces and the modes of tempo- project the figure’s itinerary beyond the limits of the canvas. To describe the temporal effect of rality to which they give rise is a historical one of which Reafsnyder is keenly aware. His person- this visual shi# requires combining grammatical tenses: the color lines at the edge of the ages play a key role in the unfolding drama. For instance, I drew a"ention above to the speeding canvas presently indicate what will have been the trailing streaks of the personage’s transverse personage in the lower right corner of Super Scoop in terms of its formal relationship to the tiled motion a!er it has le# the frame. (There is even perhaps the sense that it has already le# the swipes that constitute the overall field: it is as if the creature’s sudden appearance triggered an frame, and that the smiling personage we see has somehow just returned a#er its momentary immediate reconfiguration of the total array. But the instantaneity I’ve a"ributed to the figure is disappearance. We are witness to an alien world with neither a standard chronology nor a not unqualified. In fact, the temporality of the visual field that the personage inaugurates turns guarantee of natural cause-and-effect relationships.) Reafsnyder’s formal displacement out to be much more complex than one might initially suspect (see plate p. 79). figures the simultaneity, exchangeability, or even reversibility of immediate, antecedent, and subsequent “moments” in painting (used here as both a noun and a verb). Once we have detected the operation of that paradoxical or recursive synchronization, we discover it to be a general effect in his art. By rendering disparate temporal moments concurrent, Reafsnyder produces a kind of spanning its width. Although the band has a slightly irregular bo"om edge, there is enough of a visual hiccup. That type of glitch can sometimes be observed in the cinematic projection of defined ridge along its length to create the impression of a horizontal “line” between the marginal reel-to-reel film, and the example exposes a pertinent distinction for understanding area and the larger but similarly pa"erned field below it. In fact, a good portion of the color Reafsnyder’s timing. When film frames are imperfectly aligned with the lens of a projector, strands within that slender belt seem to be continuous with those on the other side of the an opaque band is dis-played across the luminous image from one side of the screen to crease. The matching is especially apparent on the le#, where a predominantly purple, pink, and the other. Above the bar appears the lower section of a camera shot; below it, the upper red swipe steadily runs the full height of the canvas, bouncing as it crosses the horizontal ridge part of the next image in the sequence. (In traditional movies, it is the split-second (see plate p. 63). differential between successive camera shots that creates the illusion of cinematic movement as the film is advanced from one reel to the other at twenty-four frames per second.) Si"ing While the correlation between the stripes in the band and those in the field is less consistent on through the malfunction is usually a minor inconvenience, but when the problem persists it the right, the overall effect is to suggest that the narrow strip reserved at the top of the painting creates an anomalous and quite striking optical effect: the audience will see the band as either is continuous with the run of color-swipes that stretch down the surface—and which, of course, floating upward to the top of the film screen or else as descending to the bo"om. The motion must stop as they reach the lower edge. But even more significantly, there is a mounting impres- 24 alternates and, if the misalignment goes uncorrected, the visual rise and fall of the opaque bar sion that the top of the painting is the continuation of the visual field that is projected beyond 25 will soon distract viewers, preventing them from perceiving the illusion of naturalistic space, that bo"om limit. The painting continues itself. time, and movement that is characteristic of conventional film. In calling a"ention to the discrepancy between a time scale that is proper to the cinematic narrative (a virtual or fictional I’ve begun to suggest that the imbrication of “timing” across surface, space, and image in Reafsny- one) and a time scale that is proper to one’s experience of seeing (an actual or embodied one), der’s art produces a strange impression wherein indefinite extension and temporal allowance the glitch spotlights the general difference between the temporality inside a work of art and coexists with fixed limits and temporal contraction. Certain key physical features of Reafsnyder’s the time outside it. Like a glitch, the divided timing of the personage in Super Scoop declares canvases, combined with his means of handling them, bolster the claim that his aim in these that difference, too. works is to represent visual fields that appear continuous with themselves from edge to edge while at the same time declaring their containment within a frame. (Once again, material and The alien temporal dimension of Reafsnyder’s paintings is not always dependent for its technical conditions have everything to do with content and meaning.) His works are painted signification on the presence of a biomorph that obviously enacts or embodies it. In Prime on a relatively smooth grade of Belgian linen stretched on an adjustable aluminum frame. The Choice, no obvious personage sets a narrative scene. Here, recursive timing is generic: it is not canvas is double-primed with a titanium white base to produce a surface conducive to Reafsny- just a function of creaturely activity, but it is seemingly possessed by the field itself. As usual, der’s application of acrylic paint with speed and control. (He explains that heavier fabric with a the pictorial qualities that create the time within the painting—and the technical procedures more pronounced woven texture compromises the “glide and slickness” he seeks with unneces- underpinning those temporal effects—prove notoriously difficult to describe. For a start, sary “cha"er and resistance.”)20 Each stretcher has a tension-key system located at the corners observe the restrained band of stripes, about seven to eight inches wide, parallel to the upper limit of the canvas and Prime Choice (2019) By rendering disparate temporal moments concurrent, Reafsnyder produces a kind of visual spanning its width. Although the band has a slightly irregular bo"om edge, there is enough of a hiccup. That type of glitch can sometimes be observed in the cinematic projection of reel-to-reel defined ridge along its length to create the impression of a horizontal “line” between the film, and the example exposes a pertinent distinction for understanding Reafsnyder’s timing. marginal area and the larger but similarly pa"erned field below it. In fact, a good portion of When film frames are imperfectly aligned with the lens of a projector, an opaque band is dis- the color strands within that slender belt seem to be continuous with those on the other played across the luminous image from one side of the screen to the other. Above the bar side of the crease. The matching is especially apparent on the le#, where a predominantly appears the lower section of a camera shot; below it, the upper part of the next image in the purple, pink, and red swipe steadily runs the full height of the canvas, bouncing as it crosses sequence. (In traditional movies, it is the split-second differential between successive camera the horizontal ridge (see plate p. 63). shots that creates the illusion of cinematic movement as the film is advanced from one reel to the other at twenty-four frames per second.) Si"ing through the malfunction is usually a minor incon- While the correlation between the stripes in the band and those in the field is less consistent venience, but when the problem persists it creates an anomalous and quite striking optical effect: on the right, the overall effect is to suggest that the narrow strip reserved at the top of the the audience will see the band as either floating upward to the top of the film screen or else as painting is continuous with the run of color-swipes that stretch down the surface—and which, descending to the bo"om. The motion alternates and, if the misalignment goes uncorrected, the of course, must stop as they reach the lower edge. But even more significantly, there is a 24 visual rise and fall of the opaque bar will soon distract viewers, preventing them from perceiving mounting impression that the top of the painting is the continuation of the visual field that is 25 the illusion of naturalistic space, time, and movement that is characteristic of conventional film. projected beyond that bo"om limit. The painting continues itself. In calling a"ention to the discrepancy between a time scale that is proper to the cinematic nar- rative (a virtual or fictional one) and a time scale that is proper to one’s experience of seeing (an I’ve begun to suggest that the imbrication of “timing” across surface, space, and image in actual or embodied one), the glitch spotlights the general difference between the temporality Reafsnyder’s art produces a strange impression wherein indefinite extension and temporal inside a work of art and the time outside it. Like a glitch, the divided timing of the personage in allowance coexists with fixed limits and temporal contraction. Certain key physical features of Super Scoop declares that difference, too. Reafsnyder’s canvases, combined with his means of handling them, bolster the claim that his aim in these works is to represent visual fields that appear continuous with themselves from The alien temporal dimension of Reafsnyder’s paintings is not always dependent for its significa- edge to edge while at the same time declaring their containment within a frame. (Once tion on the presence of a biomorph that obviously enacts or embodies it. In Prime Choice, no again, material and technical conditions have everything to do with content and meaning.) obvious personage sets a narrative scene. Here, recursive timing is generic: it is not just a func- His works are painted on a relatively smooth grade of Belgian linen stretched on an tion of creaturely activity, but it is seemingly possessed by the field itself. As usual, the pictorial adjustable aluminum frame. The canvas is double-primed with a titanium white base to qualities that create the time within the painting—and the technical procedures underpinning produce a surface conducive to Reafsnyder’s application of acrylic paint with speed and those temporal effects—prove notoriously difficult to describe. For a start, observe the restrained control. (He explains that heavier fabric with a more pronounced woven texture compromises band of stripes, about seven to eight inches wide, parallel to the upper limit of the canvas and the “glide and slickness” he seeks with unnecessary “cha"er and resistance.”)20 Each stretcher has a tension-key system located at the corners Bliss (2019) Think back to the personage in Super Scoop, whose displaced “tail” paradoxically anticipated and continued a motion undertaken elsewhere in the field (and in doing so thematized its simul- taneous escape from the delimited surface and its instantaneous return). The narrow belt in Prime Choice, too, signifies the resumption of the painted field’s color flow a#er its necessary cessation at the actual limit of the plane. And though it would be excessive to insist that while we are looking at Prime Choice we should imagine a surface that can be rolled like a tube, the idea nonetheless captures something of the painting’s cylindrical effect. Such spooling is comparably present in Glow Time, where a three-inch strip of green, blue, and purple color-swipes parallels the le# edge. Like the narrow belt in Prime Choice, the marginal register functions to “resume” the lateral extension of the visual field beyond the right side of the canvas by “returning” its color patches to the other side (see plate p. 53). The strip “continues” the virtual spread of an image

Michael Reafsnyder in the studio that seems as if it could extend indefinitely, yet the strip “contains” the spread within the paint- 26 painting Bliss ing’s facing plane. (The scare quotes indicate a necessary degree of equivocation in my descrip- 27 tion.) As Reafsnyder words it, the aim is to “make a space that is continuous and open but that and crossbars that allows Reafsnyder to tighten or loosen the plane while painting and to set also has boundaries to highlight the internal structure of the work.”21 One implication of that the ideal tautness for display when the work is finished. Crucially, he avoids over-straining the statement is that the paintings are not samples cut from a larger pa"ern that extends beyond the canvas: pulling the material too tightly creates a perceptibly rolled edge around the perimeter delimited, framed area of the surface. His timing confounds standard measures: Reafsnyder of the frontal plane (that is, where the linen turns the edges of the stretcher bars as it folds simultaneously evokes a sense of the continuation of the visual field (hence its prolongation) and around the tacking margin). To further maintain an ideal flatness on the facing view, Reafsnyder fortifies the impression that the image is delimited (hence its instantaneity). Once we know what tapes off the outer sides of the canvas. The preparatory step allows swipes of paint to slightly to look for, we can detect the effect everywhere in the artist’s recent paintings. overhang the edge of the surface, but prevents the acrylic from touching the sides. Should that occur, the color marks would impel vision around the edge of the plane to the tacking margin, We might infer a final lesson from the pictorial effects of Reafsnyder’s work (at least insofar as and thus call a"ention to the canvas and its armature rather than to the virtual image projected I have endeavored to interpret them). To make a painting that seems continuous with itself and by the painting. All told, Reafsnyder’s procedures confine the viewer’s optical scanning to the involved in itself is also, somewhat paradoxically, to gesture toward an ideal of openness plane, but in a manner that permits vision to “glide” across the painting’s surface, seemingly and exchange. I began this essay by suggesting that the potential for self-signaling in Reafsnyder’s unimpeded by even the slightest interruption at its limits and always resituated or re-sighted painting—or rather his capacity to create each painting’s specific form of address—was on it. fundamental to the content his art holds. His inflected surfaces, with their particular qualities of Think back to the personage in Super Scoop, whose displaced “tail” paradoxically anticipated and continued a motion undertaken elsewhere in the field (and in doing so thematized its simultaneous escape from the delimited surface and its instantaneous return). The narrow belt in Prime Choice, too, signifies the resumption of the painted field’s color flow a#er its necessary cessation at the actual limit of the plane. And though it would be excessive to insist that while we are looking at Prime Choice we should imagine a surface that can be rolled like a tube, the idea nonetheless captures something of the painting’s cylindrical effect. Such spooling is comparably present in Glow Time, where a three-inch strip of green, blue, and purple color-swipes parallels the le# edge. Like the narrow belt in Prime Choice, the marginal register functions to “resume” the lateral extension of the visual field beyond the right side of the canvas by “returning” its color patches to the other side (see plate p. 53). The strip

Michael Reafsnyder in the studio “continues” the virtual spread of an image that seems as if it could extend indefinitely, yet the 26 painting Bliss strip “contains” the spread within the paint-ing’s facing plane. (The scare quotes indicate a 27 necessary degree of equivocation in my descrip-tion.) As Reafsnyder words it, the aim is to and crossbars that allows Reafsnyder to tighten or loosen the plane while painting and to set the “make a space that is continuous and open but that also has boundaries to highlight the ideal tautness for display when the work is finished. Crucially, he avoids over-straining the can- internal structure of the work.”21 One implication of that statement is that the paintings are vas: pulling the material too tightly creates a perceptibly rolled edge around the perimeter of the not samples cut from a larger pa"ern that extends beyond the delimited, framed area of the frontal plane (that is, where the linen turns the edges of the stretcher bars as it folds around the surface. His timing confounds standard measures: Reafsnyder simultaneously evokes a sense tacking margin). To further maintain an ideal flatness on the facing view, Reafsnyder tapes off the of the continuation of the visual field (hence its prolongation) and fortifies the impression that outer sides of the canvas. The preparatory step allows swipes of paint to slightly overhang the the image is delimited (hence its instantaneity). Once we know what to look for, we can detect edge of the surface, but prevents the acrylic from touching the sides. Should that occur, the color the effect everywhere in the artist’s recent paintings. marks would impel vision around the edge of the plane to the tacking margin, and thus call a"en- tion to the canvas and its armature rather than to the virtual image projected by the painting. All We might infer a final lesson from the pictorial effects of Reafsnyder’s work (at least insofar as told, Reafsnyder’s procedures confine the viewer’s optical scanning to the plane, but in a manner I have endeavored to interpret them). To make a painting that seems continuous with itself and that permits vision to “glide” across the painting’s surface, seemingly unimpeded by even the involved in itself is also, somewhat paradoxically, to gesture toward an ideal of openness slightest interruption at its limits and always resituated or re-sighted on it. and exchange. I began this essay by suggesting that the potential for self-signaling in Reafsnyder’s painting—or rather his capacity to create each painting’s specific form of address—was fundamental to the content his art holds. His inflected surfaces, with their particular qualities of Glow Time (2019) Endnotes surfacing, spacing, siting, and timing, establish the structures of beholding by which his commu- 1. Historically specific forms of pictorial address have been Angeles Times (8 June 2001): F22, and Dave Hickey, nication proceeds. Two entities face each other (as in any act of communication): by a"ending analyzed by numerous scholars, but see especially the “Michael Reafsnyder: ‘Please Don’t Let Me Be foundational account of structures of beholding in Misunderstood,’” in Michael Reafsnyder [exh. cat.] carefully to the relationship of material incident and visual array, we experience the simultane- Michael Fried, Manet’s Modernism: or, The Face of (New York: Ameringer | McEnery | Yohe, 2015), 5. ous sensation of real surfaces blended with a unique abstract dimensionality. The Painting in the 1860s (Chicago: University of Chicago 3. A key precedent for the dialectic of surface and screen reciprocal relation of actual painted surfaces and the virtual worlds to which they give rise is Press, 1996). On the relationship of materialization (or is Jackson Pollock’s Stenographic Figure (1942), a physicality) and the temporalization of surfaces, see apparently inexhaustible. That deceptively simple category of sensation continues to challenge painting Reafsnyder testifies is among the major especially Richard Shiff, “Breath of Modernism reference points in his artistic pantheon. our critical acumen, soliciting patient observation, description, and interpretation. Reafsnyder (Metonymic Dri#),” in In Visible Touch: Modernism and 4. The point counters such basic claims as: “Reafsnyder is motivates us toward those ends, seriously and joyfully. It’s what his painting does. Masculinity, ed. Terry Smith (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1997), 184–213. merely exploring the paint material and canvas surface in the same manner as the previous generations of 2. Both audiences and critics seem to find it impossible to artists. They were/are both trying to combine resist using the term “smiley face” to refer to these sophisticated issues of ‘pure’ painting with childlike outward looking personages. But the name is both spontaneity” (Victoria Reed, “Michael Reafsnyder at inaccurate and misleading, reducing to consumer R.B. Stevenson Gallery,” Artweek [June 2007]: 20). branded nomenclature what is for Reafsnyder the 28 complex ontological existence of his creatures or 5. Conversation with the author, November 2018. The 29 inhabitants. (The adjective “smiling,” when used in a presence of the personage is a form of negative merely descriptive sense, may be slightly be"er.) The invocation. If an interlocutor says: “Don’t think of a deep artist’s frustration with ascriptions of silliness or jokiness lake,” it will be hard to avoid doing so. The more specific to these faces led him in 2005 to cast an already extant the rhetorical trick is, the more challenging it is to seal oil painting in bronze, creating an edition of three one’s mind against a nascent image (“Don’t think of a wall-hanging relief sculptures entitled Happy People. gurgling brook in a green meadow”). It is as if Evening (The painting was destroyed in the process.) Choosing Delight teases, “Don’t think of a face,” and in so doing bronze—the premier traditional material with which to begins to thematize the mutual infringement of marks and signify the seriousness of high artistic ambition and pa"erns characteristic of a naïve view of abstraction. On achievement—was Reafsnyder’s way of responding to negative invocation as a strategy in surrealism (“This is overly facile assertions that the face was, as one critic not a pipe”), see Roger Sha"uck, “René Magri"e and the put it, a “deliberately silly trademark” which “remind[s] (Irish) Bull” (1966), in The Innocent Eye (New York: Farrar, viewers not to take the art-historical references too Straus & Giroux, 1984), 277–87. seriously” (Doug McClemont, “Michael Reafsnyder at 6. Hofmann used the term in his teaching, and Greenberg Ameringer | McEnery | Yohe,” Art News [April 2001]: 111). adopted it in print in a 1947 review of Jackson Pollock’s More persuasively, Christopher Knight mobilizes “smiley work. See Greenberg, “Review of Exhibitions of Jean face” for a socio-political interpretation in “Michael Dubuffet and Jackson Pollock” (1947), in Clement Reafsnyder,” Art Issues (March/April 2000): 49. See also Greenberg: Collected Essays and Criticism, ed. John David Pagel, “Art Reviews: Michael Reafsnyder,” Los O’Brian, 4 vols. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, Michael Schreyach is an Associate Professor at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. He is the author of Pollock’s Modernism (Yale University Press, 2017). Endnotes Angeles Times (8 June 2001): F22, and Dave surfacing, spacing, siting, and timing, establish the structures of beholding by which his commu- 1. Historically specific forms of pictorial address have been Hickey, “Michael Reafsnyder: ‘Please Don’t Let Me nication proceeds. Two entities face each other (as in any act of communication): by a"ending analyzed by numerous scholars, but see especially the Be Misunderstood,’” in Michael Reafsnyder [exh. foundational account of structures of beholding in cat.] (New York: Ameringer | McEnery | Yohe, carefully to the relationship of material incident and visual array, we experience the simultane- Michael Fried, Manet’s Modernism: or, The Face of 2015), 5. Painting in the 1860s (Chicago: University of Chicago ous sensation of real surfaces blended with a unique abstract dimensionality. The reciprocal 3. A key precedent for the dialectic of surface and screen Press, 1996). On the relationship of materialization (or relation of actual painted surfaces and the virtual worlds to which they give rise is apparently is Jackson Pollock’s Stenographic Figure (1942), a physicality) and the temporalization of surfaces, see inexhaustible. That deceptively simple category of sensation continues to challenge our critical painting Reafsnyder testifies is among the major especially Richard Shiff, “Breath of Modernism reference points in his artistic pantheon. acumen, soliciting patient observation, description, and interpretation. Reafsnyder motivates us (Metonymic Dri#),” in In Visible Touch: Modernism and Masculinity, ed. Terry Smith (Chicago: University of 4. The point counters such basic claims as: “Reafsnyder is toward those ends, seriously and joyfully. It’s what his painting does. Chicago Press, 1997), 184–213. merely exploring the paint material and canvas surface in the same manner as the previous generations of 2. Both audiences and critics seem to find it impossible to artists. They were/are both trying to combine resist using the term “smiley face” to refer to these sophisticated issues of ‘pure’ painting with childlike outward looking personages. But the name is both spontaneity” (Victoria Reed, “Michael Reafsnyder at inaccurate and misleading, reducing to consumer R.B. Stevenson Gallery,” Artweek [June 2007]: 20). branded nomenclature what is for Reafsnyder the 28 complex ontological existence of his creatures or 5. Conversation with the author, November 2018. The 29 inhabitants. (The adjective “smiling,” when used in a presence of the personage is a form of negative merely descriptive sense, may be slightly be"er.) The invocation. If an interlocutor says: “Don’t think of a deep lake,” it will be hard to avoid doing so. The more specific artist’s frustration with ascriptions of silliness or jokiness the rhetorical trick is, the more challenging it is to seal to these faces led him in 2005 to cast an already extant one’s mind against a nascent image (“Don’t think of a oil painting in bronze, creating an edition of three wall- hanging relief sculptures entitled Happy People. gurgling brook in a green meadow”). It is as if Evening Delight teases, “Don’t think of a face,” and in so doing (The painting was destroyed in the process.) Choosing bronze—the premier traditional material with which to begins to thematize the mutual infringement of marks and pa"erns characteristic of a naïve view of signify the seriousness of high artistic ambition and abstraction. On negative invocation as a strategy in achievement—was Reafsnyder’s way of responding to surrealism (“This is not a pipe”), see Roger Sha"uck, overly facile assertions that the face was, as one critic “René Magri"e and the (Irish) Bull” (1966), in The Innocent put it, a “deliberately silly trademark” which “remind[s] Eye (New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1984), 277–87. viewers not to take the art-historical references too seriously” (Doug McClemont, “Michael Reafsnyder at 6. Hofmann used the term in his teaching, and Greenberg Ameringer | McEnery | Yohe,” Art News [April 2001]: 111). adopted it in print in a 1947 review of Jackson Pollock’s More persuasively, Christopher Knight mobilizes “smiley work. See Greenberg, “Review of Exhibitions of Jean face” for a socio-political interpretation in “Michael Dubuffet and Jackson Pollock” (1947), in Clement Reafsnyder,” Art Issues (March/April 2000): 49. See also Greenberg: Collected Essays and Criticism, ed. John David Pagel, “Art Reviews: Michael Reafsnyder,” Los O’Brian, 4 vols. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, Michael Schreyach is an Associate Professor at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. He is the author of Pollock’s Modernism (Yale University Press, 2017). 1986–93), 2: 125. Greenberg later used the variant Reafsnyder’s paints are produced by Golden Artist “created flatness” to describe successful painterly 10. 15. The classic explication of the cultural connotations of environment, mermaids and other aquatic creatures Colors Inc. Not only is their pigment load extremely high, abstraction in “The ‘Crisis’ of Abstract Art,” Collected spontaneous mark-making comes from Meyer Schapiro, with fusiform anatomies or tentacles, a floating platform but Golden colors are manufactured to maintain their Essays, 4: 181. For an extended discussion, see Michael “The Liberating Quality of Avant-Garde Art,” Art News or small island, a ladder, and a star. O#en, Reafsnyder normal state of surface—meaning their particular gloss or Schreyach, “Re-created Flatness: Hans Hofmann’s 56, no. 4 (Summer 1957): 36–42; reprinted in Schapiro, chooses to depict the mermaid only from the neck ma"e characteristics and their given transparency or Concept of the Picture Plane as a Medium of Modern Art 19th & 20th Centuries: Selected Papers down, as if she has swum past the visible range delimited Expression,” Journal of Aesthetic Education 49, no. 1 opacity. Those a"ributes are o#en manipulated or (New York: George Braziller, 1978), 213–27. By symbolically by the paper (she is both “in” and “out” of the frame). adjusted by paint companies to create a color line that is (Spring 2015): 44–67. Although it would be nearly linking unregimented marks to an individual’s authentic The smaller gouaches, on the other hand, are relatively impossible for any conscientious student of painting relatively homogenous in secondary qualities (i.e., experience and self-expression, critics have historically simplified compositions showing a single mermaid qualities besides hue). Nor is the historical legacy of the to overlook Hofmann, Reafsnyder was specifically adduced touch to indicate an individual fully commi"ed reclining by the shore or floating halfway submerged in company lost on Reafsnyder: Its founder, Sam Golden, introduced to the older artist’s work by his teacher to self-directed activity and its personally expressive water. O#en the creature seems to caress the surface partnered in the 1930s with his uncle Leonard Bocour, a William Boaz, a professor of art at Chapman results—a healthy contrast to the depersonalization and of the water with as if in a gesture of invitation or New York art supplier whose enterprise produced hand- University, and he has continued to contemplate regimentation of activity under modern industrial and enticement. Mermaids, of course, are an excellent ground oil paint purchased by the artists Jackson Hofmann’s achievement over the course of his technological conditions. symbol of both continuity and separation, since they Pollock, Mark Rothko, and Barne" Newman. In the late have no proper environment, being both “in” and “out” professional career. 16. To enhance our sense of Reafsnyder’s a"itude, contrast 1940s, Golden discovered by experimentation a way to of sea and land. The duality is also evident in bodies The pertinent precedent is again Hofmann, whose the disposition of personages as I’ve described them in 7. manufacture acrylic paint and created Magna, famously that are dimorphic (both aquatic and human). Each half understanding of color-created space derived in part Sweet Falls to those that sometimes appear in paintings used by Newman, Helen Frankenthaler, and Morris Louis. of the mermaid’s body prevents (or separates) the other from his exposure to advanced artists working in Paris by Asger Jorn (1914–73), the Danish artist and avant-garde 30 Later, he produced a waterborne version of acrylic, half from being fully admi"ed into (or continuous with) 31 during the early twentieth century, and particularly provocateur whose work Reafsnyder admires. Aquatec. Golden opened his own company in 1980. a liquid or terrestrial ecosystem. The theme is ripe to Henri Matisse. The title of an essay authored by 17. Quoted in Kim Beil, “Surface Tension,” art ltd. (June for psychological speculation: perhaps the mermaid Hofmann succinctly describes the problem at hand: 11. Quoted in Kim Beil, “Surface Tension,” art ltd. (June 2007): 52. Reafsnyder was referring specifically to the drawings function as Reafsnyder’s way of holding onto “Space Pictorially Realized through the Intrinsic Faculty 2007): 53. archaic form of his smiling faces, but the sentiment figuration within an abstract style that prevents its full of the Colors to Express Volume” (in Hans Hofmann: New 12. Michael Baxandall, Painting and Experience in Fi!eenth applies to the new family of personages as well incorporation. These private exercises are his way of Paintings [New York: Kootz Gallery, 1951]). Century Italy: A Primer in the Social History of Pictorial (conversation with the author, July 2019). staying both “in” (representation) while being mostly Style (Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press, 1972), 91–93. 8. My description pertains to the way the passage looks, 18. A compelling account of the theme of continuity and “out” (abstraction). not how it was actually made, since in Reafsnyder’s work 13. Correspondence with the author, February 2018. separation in modernist painting is provided by 19. For a primer, see Richard Shiff, “Corot and the Painter’s what might appear as one large swipe is o#en a layering 14. It would be more accurate to say that the directionality Charles Palermo, Fixed Ecstasy: Joan Miró in the 1920s Mark: Natural, Personal, Pictorial,” Apollo 148, no. 435 of several distinct swipes or scrapes that either build up of the personage reverses the trajectory of the mark, (University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University (May 1998): 3–8. or reveal underlying layers of paint. In Sunny Flow, since the tapered end of the line shows it to have been Press, 2008). With regard to the issue, yet another numerous mo"led excavations partly interrupt the visual 20. Correspondence with the author, November 2018. made when Reafsnyder swiped the pale"e knife from feature of Reafsnyder’s practice assumes heretofore continuity of the swiped lines that otherwise rhythmically right to le# while at the same time changing the angle of unremarked significance. For over two decades, he has 21. Correspondence with the author, July 2019. measure the composition. the blade relative to the surface—whereas, judging from composed numerous figurative representations of a 9. To create the illusion of three-dimensional masses by its profile, the figure moves across the plane from le# to somewhat surprising motif: mermaids. These figure shading with simple hatching (using sequences of parallel right. But in terms of describing the artist’s complex studies are considered by the artist to be “private, but vertical or horizontal lines, with or without cross-hatching), a images, it is sometimes expedient to subordinate the not personal,” and have never been exhibited (although dra#sperson can vary the spacing between the line (in actual stages of the procedure to the overall visual effect series of ceramic sculptures of the creatures were which case, increasingly compressed striations across a the procedure creates. Which is just to say shown in 2009). The works are made on paper in plane suggest mass by indexing conditions of illumination); that there’s a difference between what a painting is gouache or black ink (specifically Cel-Vinyl, a special or, to get a similar effect, vary the pressure applied to the (materially) and what it does (virtually). type of toner used for animating cartoons on plastic pencil (thus changing the width and density of lines in transparencies). The imagery differs depending on relation to each other); or use pencils or pens with the medium. The Cel-Vinyl drawings feature variations differently sized nibs. on a few standard iconographic elements: a liquid 1986–93), 2: 125. Greenberg later used the variant 10. Reafsnyder’s paints are produced by Golden Artist 15. The classic explication of the cultural connotations of environment, mermaids and other aquatic creatures “created flatness” to describe successful painterly Colors Inc. Not only is their pigment load extremely high, spontaneous mark-making comes from Meyer Schapiro, with fusiform anatomies or tentacles, a floating abstraction in “The ‘Crisis’ of Abstract Art,” Collected but Golden colors are manufactured to maintain their “The Liberating Quality of Avant-Garde Art,” Art News platform or small island, a ladder, and a star. O#en, Essays, 4: 181. For an extended discussion, see Michael normal state of surface—meaning their particular gloss or 56, no. 4 (Summer 1957): 36–42; reprinted in Schapiro, Reafsnyder chooses to depict the mermaid only from Schreyach, “Re-created Flatness: Hans Hofmann’s ma"e characteristics and their given transparency or Modern Art 19th & 20th Centuries: Selected Papers the neck down, as if she has swum past the visible range Concept of the Picture Plane as a Medium of opacity. Those a"ributes are o#en manipulated or adjusted (New York: George Braziller, 1978), 213–27. By symbolically delimited by the paper (she is both “in” and “out” of Expression,” Journal of Aesthetic Education 49, no. 1 by paint companies to create a color line that is relatively linking unregimented marks to an individual’s authentic the frame). The smaller gouaches, on the other hand, (Spring 2015): 44–67. Although it would be nearly homogenous in secondary qualities (i.e., qualities besides experience and self-expression, critics have historically are relatively simplified compositions showing a single impossible for any conscientious student of painting hue). Nor is the historical legacy of the company lost on adduced touch to indicate an individual fully commi"ed mermaid reclining by the shore or floating halfway to overlook Hofmann, Reafsnyder was specifically Reafsnyder: Its founder, Sam Golden, partnered in the to self-directed activity and its personally expressive submerged in water. O#en the creature seems to introduced to the older artist’s work by his teacher 1930s with his uncle Leonard Bocour, a New York art results—a healthy contrast to the depersonalization and caress the surface of the water with as if in a gesture William Boaz, a professor of art at Chapman University, supplier whose enterprise produced hand-ground oil regimentation of activity under modern industrial and of invitation or enticement. Mermaids, of course, are and he has continued to contemplate Hofmann’s paint purchased by the artists Jackson Pollock, Mark technological conditions. an excellent symbol of both continuity and separation, achievement over the course of his professional career. Rothko, and Barne" Newman. In the late 1940s, Golden since they have no proper environment, being both 16. To enhance our sense of Reafsnyder’s a"itude, contrast discovered by experimentation a way to manufacture “in” and “out” of sea and land. The duality is also 7. The pertinent precedent is again Hofmann, whose the disposition of personages as I’ve described them in acrylic paint and created Magna, famously used by evident in bodies that are dimorphic (both aquatic and understanding of color-created space derived in part Sweet Falls to those that sometimes appear in paintings Newman, Helen Frankenthaler, and Morris Louis. Later, human). Each half of the mermaid’s body prevents (or from his exposure to advanced artists working in Paris by Asger Jorn (1914–73), the Danish artist and avant- 30 he produced a waterborne version of acrylic, Aquatec. separates) the other half from being fully admi"ed into 31 during the early twentieth century, and particularly garde provocateur whose work Reafsnyder admires. Golden opened his own company in 1980. (or continuous with) a liquid or terrestrial ecosystem. to Henri Matisse. The title of an essay authored by 17. Quoted in Kim Beil, “Surface Tension,” art ltd. (June The theme is ripe for psychological speculation: Hofmann succinctly describes the problem at hand: 11. Quoted in Kim Beil, “Surface Tension,” art ltd. (June 2007): 52. Reafsnyder was referring specifically to the perhaps the mermaid drawings function as “Space Pictorially Realized through the Intrinsic Faculty 2007): 53. archaic form of his smiling faces, but the sentiment Reafsnyder’s way of holding onto figuration within an of the Colors to Express Volume” (in Hans Hofmann: 12. Michael Baxandall, Painting and Experience in Fi!eenth applies to the new family of personages as well abstract style that prevents its full incorporation. New Paintings [New York: Kootz Gallery, 1951]). Century Italy: A Primer in the Social History of Pictorial (conversation with the author, July 2019). These private exercises are his way of staying both 8. My description pertains to the way the passage looks, Style (Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press, 1972), 91–93. 18. A compelling account of the theme of continuity and “in” (representation) while being mostly not how it was actually made, since in Reafsnyder’s work 13. Correspondence with the author, February 2018. separation in modernist painting is provided by Charles “out” (abstraction). what might appear as one large swipe is o#en a layering Palermo, Fixed Ecstasy: Joan Miró in the 1920s 19. For a primer, see Richard Shiff, “Corot and the of several distinct swipes or scrapes that either build 14. It would be more accurate to say that the directionality (University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Painter’s Mark: Natural, Personal, Pictorial,” Apollo 148, up or reveal underlying layers of paint. In Sunny Flow, of the personage reverses the trajectory of the mark, Press, 2008). With regard to the issue, yet another no. 435 (May 1998): 3–8. since the tapered end of the line shows it to have been numerous mo"led excavations partly interrupt the visual feature of Reafsnyder’s practice assumes heretofore made when Reafsnyder swiped the pale"e knife from Correspondence with the author, November 2018. continuity of the swiped lines that otherwise rhythmically unremarked significance. For over two decades, he has 20. right to le# while at the same time changing the angle of measure the composition. composed numerous figurative representations of a 21. Correspondence with the author, July 2019. the blade relative to the surface—whereas, judging from 9. To create the illusion of three-dimensional masses by somewhat surprising motif: mermaids. These figure its profile, the figure moves across the plane from le# shading with simple hatching (using sequences of parallel studies are considered by the artist to be “private, but to right. But in terms of describing the artist’s complex vertical or horizontal lines, with or without cross-hatching), not personal,” and have never been exhibited (although images, it is sometimes expedient to subordinate the a dra#sperson can vary the spacing between the line (in series of ceramic sculptures of the creatures were actual stages of the procedure to the overall visual which case, increasingly compressed striations across a shown in 2009). The works are made on paper in effect the procedure creates. Which is just to say plane suggest mass by indexing conditions of illumination); gouache or black ink (specifically Cel-Vinyl, a special that there’s a difference between what a painting is or, to get a similar effect, vary the pressure applied to the type of toner used for animating cartoons on plastic (materially) and what it does (virtually). pencil (thus changing the width and density of lines in transparencies). The imagery differs depending on the relation to each other); or use pencils or pens with medium. The Cel-Vinyl drawings feature variations on a differently sized nibs. few standard iconographic elements: a liquid Reference Images for Endnote 18