Alex Katz

Unlike all the other artists I have posted about thus far, Alex Katz is primarily a portrait painter. Below is posted "Eli's Friend," 1985.

This painting seems to be more of a sketch, as most of his other paintings have a more finished quality to them. What attracts me about this painting more so than the others, however, is exactly that. I like how the vest is not completely red and the plethora of highlights in the hair give it body. The bright yellow outline of the face and neck, on the other hand, I neither like nor understand. Even accepting that this could be a sketch, I see no purpose to it, but rather find it distracting, particularly around the left eye.

Katz's sense of composition seems to be more developed in his other works, with subjects not centered on the page, in poses that aren't entirely frontal. The composition of this painting reminds me of school picture day, where everything from shoulder level up is cropped out of the frame. Were Katz to combine this looser style of painting with the composition of his other works, I would consider that to be a successful piece.