Notes

With his signature sense of humour, Robert Hodgins created The Man in the Fairground Booth, a work that is as much about the pleasure of the funfair as it is about the pleasure of art. At the heart of the composition sits a bemused man surrounded by a profusion of bright stripes that are both referential in their suggestion of colourful awnings and yet abstract in their observance of Clement Greenberg’s doctrine of adhering to the flatness of the canvas. Hodgins’ sophisticated understanding of art history enabled him to riff off Post-painterly abstractionists like Barnet Newman and Kenneth Noland while nodding in the direction of contemporary art’s exploration of subjectivity. Being the supreme colourist that he was, his fearless combining of yellows, pinks and baby blues into a sensational composition vibrates with energy and good humour.