Imp

Emblematic of his delightfully diverse oeuvre, Steven Curtis’s Imp encapsulates the artist's impressive ability to move fluidly between pronounced figurative painting and abstraction. I've written about Curtis's work on several occasions, and his range of artistic expression never ceases to surprise me (in fact, I have had to double-check that I am writing about the same artist). Usually, a human face becomes the focal point of any painting, as our eyes are unavoidably drawn to the familiar. However, the mischievous face in the lower center puts that theory to the test. The thick impasto, enigmatically colored, and gestural flurry of overlapping abstract brushstrokes burst forth from the canvas with a ferocity that challenges even the most figurative inclined viewer’s attention. The haptic and emotive expression of form and color does not consume the imp’s face but cedes no ground to figuration’s normally overpowering presence.