Double Portrait

In 1949, after disposing of most of his non-figurative Abstract Expressionist canvases in the Berkeley dump, David Park abandoned pure abstraction and returned to figuration. By 1959, Park had become one of the key Bay Area Figurative painters. In "Double Portrait," Park slathers on thick strokes of prismatic color, while also allowing his paint to drip from his figures' mouths and necks. Through the materiality of his paint medium and the expressive brushwork, Park captures the figures' emotional intensity rather than their likenesses.