A 1981 painting where a fragmentary human back, folded cloth, and a gravity‑defying ivy vine create a layered study of form, space, and reductive composition.
A 1981 painting where a fragmentary human back, folded cloth, and a gravity‑defying ivy vine create a layered study of form, space, and reductive composition.

Ivy and Back of Figure (1981)

$1,620.00
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Painted during a period when I was deeply engaged with the 20th‑century idea of the power of the fragment, this work brings together two tendencies of the time: the way an ivy plant seems to defy gravity with its floating leaves, and the way the human figure can redefine form and spatial expectation when only partially shown.

Only a short portion of the back is visible, yet its curvature sweeps upward in a single arc through the center of the composition. Opposing this, the folded creases of the cloth move inward from the other side, their contours echoing and countering the body’s line. In this interplay, the figure becomes both form and ground—a shifting perceptual role central to my work of this period.

The ivy vine enters from the lower left, its leaves positioned in front of the arching curves of both cloth and body, creating a layered spatial tension. As in Back Against Hallway, the reductive treatment of the figure reflects my belief that, in certain circumstances, less truly becomes more—that withholding information can heighten presence, not diminish it.

·       Dimensions: 12″ × 15″

·       Medium: Oil on canvas

·       Framing: Custom-framed by me to complement my specific painting aesthetic.

Painted during a period when I was deeply engaged with the 20th‑century idea of the power of the fragment, this work brings together two tendencies of the time: the way an ivy plant seems to defy gravity with its floating leaves, and the way the human figure can redefine form and spatial expectation when only partially shown.

Only a short portion of the back is visible, yet its curvature sweeps upward in a single arc through the center of the composition. Opposing this, the folded creases of the cloth move inward from the other side, their contours echoing and countering the body’s line. In this interplay, the figure becomes both form and ground—a shifting perceptual role central to my work of this period.

The ivy vine enters from the lower left, its leaves positioned in front of the arching curves of both cloth and body, creating a layered spatial tension. As in Back Against Hallway, the reductive treatment of the figure reflects my belief that, in certain circumstances, less truly becomes more—that withholding information can heighten presence, not diminish it.

·       Dimensions: 12″ × 15″

·       Medium: Oil on canvas

·       Framing: Custom-framed by me to complement my specific painting aesthetic.