In the late 60s, abstract artist Philip Guston stopped painting, then restarted his practice by building a new, figurative artistic vocabulary. The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s newly installed mezzanine gallery features solitary painted objects – a lightbulb, a shoe – on small canvases that demonstrate how the artist weighed up the meaning and import of everyday objects that he would later repeat. This untitled painting shows a partial view of the artist himself, apparently painted over and covering another image. Wide-eyed and looking straight at the viewer, Guston is only partially visible, but his wary stare speaks volumes about his desire to communicate. (On view on the Upper East Side in the Met’s ‘Philip Guston: The Panel Paintings, 1968-72 which includes work from Musa Guston Mayer’s promised gift.)
