PAINTING
MAX KORNFIELD
(USA)
 
DETAILS
Oil and aquarelle
26.4 x 42.2 cm
2024
 
DESCRIPTION
In a room with a bare cement floor and plain white walls, a nude man sits in a flesh-colored armchair in the bottom right corner of the painting. From his head, a spiraling abstract form of light flesh color rises like a cloud to the top of the painting. Over his right side, two dogs rest lazily. In contrast, his other hand is doubled, tightly gripping his leg.
This portrait captures a singular state of mind—one I associate with aesthete intellectuals in the depths of
despair and hopelessness. Devoted to beauty and the pursuit of meaning, yet confronted with the absence
of affirmation, they exist in a world where beauty lingers but no longer sustains life. I describe this as “the
feeling that God has gone out of the world.” For a secular audience, it may be understood as the moment
when all meaning vanishes.
The two dogs and two hands emerged organically as the layers of drawing, watercolor and oil
accumulated. Instead of hiding changes, I add them. It gives the paintings movement, a sense of time in a
still image and something mysterious to the viewer.
There is no intentional halo or laurel wreath, but that doesn't mean it isn't there! MK
"That’s me: alone and like to be naked and to carry less burden. Thoughtful to the point of dejection—but
I am far from finished. I keep rising, again and again. Not just for the dog." – SK