Monday, December 28, 2009

Olga Picasso

Here's a painting by Fred Mogubgub I picked up several years ago.


It's title is Olga Picasso #3 and dated 1984.

The treatment is strange. A sort of "upskirt" angle of a woman on a bench -possibly a sidewalk -most likely a subway seat, a volume of Picasso by her side. The subject is sort of slumped in recline and the image is obscured within itself with a dark frame to the lower right hand side and a kind of floating screen off center.

Streaks ending in yellow fall down the frame.

All of the layering obscures a nicely formed painting of a woman.

These paintings tell unspoken stories. I like to think this Olga is a Russian commuter, (the title a play on Pablo's wife) maybe taking night classes at the Art Student's League, on her way home to Brighton Beach. This was 25 years ago. Today Olga is 50 or 60 at least. Maybe a grandmother a few times over. Maybe a great painted in her own right.

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