3 Perfect Paintings
from deep within the belly of art history
Somehow over the years I’ve developed an insane wealth of knowledge regarding art history. I had this popular Instagram account focused on art history for half a decade, but I’ve been locked out of it since last year. I vouch for each of the 4,629 artworks. I’m admittedly a mediocre technical painter myself, but I can spot a good painting fairly quickly (and a bad one even faster).
The one thing I’m not good at is explaining why a painting works. Some people ascribe mystical qualities to art. Not me, but only because I’ve never felt something mystical, not because I’m against the idea. There definitely is something beyond language and reason that makes a painting stand out; I’m just not sure what it is. Vague and remote emotional qualities may be involved. Maybe it’s better not to investigate it. Here are three paintings I think are perfect, accompanied by my weak attempts to explain why.
Albert York, Landscape with Trees and Snake, 1980
Almost all of Albert York’s paintings look this way. Perfect, square, green you could eat with a spoon, or rub all over your body.
This painting looks like it was made either in an hour or over the course of months. Both options are admirable. York is the classic ‘painter’s painter’. I love him to death and I don’t really identify as a painter myself. Sometimes you’ll see people trying to paint like York, naively thinking it must be easy, but they never pull it off. Well one person does, Seth Becker, like in this painting, called Factory Fire, which is just 12 x 12 inches.
I think you need to be in a certain place psychologically to make paintings as beautiful and simple as York’s. He famously once told an interviewer, “I think we live in a Paradise. This is the Garden of Eden.” When you approach life from that perspective, you’re probably far more inclined to create something transcendent. At least that’s my take.
Number 2…
Édouard Manet, Bob, 1876
C’mon, do I even need to explain? Obviously, I’m not being controversial when I say Manet was a brilliant painter, maybe one of the all-time top five with a brush. It’s not just that this looks exactly like a fucking little dog named Bob, it’s that you can tell Bob was Manet’s dog, and that he loved him to death. Whenever I see this painting I wanna reach in and pet Bob, knowing he’ll probably bite my finger, and I won’t be able to get mad at him because he’s so cute.
I have a cat named Cherry that I’d take a bullet for, or worse—a machete. I tried painting her once and it didn’t work out, largely because I wasn’t imbued with the same God-given talent Manet was. There’s nothing worse than trying to paint someone or something you love, and having it turn out not to resemble them at all. I know this painting of Bob looks more like him than any photograph could. And Manet painted some other dogs equally well, with cute names like Tama and Souki.
I had to stop writing this to go play with Cherry, that’s how much this painting of Bob moves me.
3
Tala Madani, Nature Nurture, 2019
Almost every painting by Tala Madani is a perfect painting, and belongs on this list. But the works in her ‘Shit Moms’ series are particularly compelling. Mirthe Berentsen describes the series best:
“The paintings…show a female character covered in feces who leaves traces everywhere she goes while caring for her increasingly brown, besmeared children.”
On a purely technical level, Madani paints with outrageous confidence and speed in a way I truly envy. Her colors are sickening and perfect, diarrhea and cotton candy together at last. I don’t know what it’s like to be a mother, but I’ve spent my life around mothers, and the impression I get is that Madani portrays the experience perfectly. The unrelentingness, the constant self-doubt and anxiety, realizing you’ve exited a certain cultivated world and reentered a primitive one, forever cleaning up and making messes.
Smeared with shit, becoming shit oneself, forever shitty, smelly, exhausted—my experience with capitalism and the endless search for money feels somewhat relatable, but I know balancing motherhood on top of it all is a million times shittier, and more difficult.
Visually, Nature Nurture is perfect, and it’s funny—something sadly lacking from contemporary art, and contemporary life. Tala Madani is the best painter on the planet. If you don’t believe me, take a look at these:
This painting is called Shitty de Milo! Come on! So good.
Until next time…