Lemons

I could write about Jacqueline Quigley-Lanphear’s Lemons entirely from an abstract perspective, and I think I will. When color constitutes the primary subject of a composition, figuration and abstraction take the back seat, not because they are unnecessary, but because form is out-ranked by fundamentals. But even now, I take issue with my phrasing: there is not a hierarchy of painterly expression but simply a subject matter that transcends it. One could argue that the present work is about lemons. I could not possibly disagree with this assessment except that I strongly disagree with it. Yellow is the star here, and how it is delivered (whether lemons or abstract squares) is important in so far as a sound composition is to any successful artwork. Still, the brilliance of the color, the greens that accentuate its golden glow, and the separation of any other distracting elements are the true focus of this beautiful work.

Makes me long for a tall glass of lemonade on a hot summer day!