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Student Union Collection |
Alex
Katz
American, 1927
Vincent
with Open Mouth, 1970
oil on canvas
96” x 72”
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Alex Katz's 1970 painting of his son
entitled Vincent, with Open Mouth is familiar to anyone who has
stepped into the Green Room in Reynolda Hall. The large picture
of a boy's face looming on the picture plane, with its simple
drawing and immense areas of flat color, dominates the room.
Katz has said the large scale portraits of his family and friends
grew out of an “abrasive idea.” He intended them
to be “in-your-face. It was like: You want my painting?
Throw out your furniture. Stick a big head in your living room.” Katz
did not want his paintings to be considered decorative and hung
over living room couches. Although Wake Forest has a public space
in scale with the painting, Vincent is still an imposing and
even unsettling picture.
Like many of Katz's paintings, the work is representational and
abstract, accessible and inscrutable. What seems to be an informal
portrait of his son takes on the scale of a billboard, and, despite
the blandness of the pastel colors, a vaguely disturbing air
prevades the work.
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