Continuing through July 22, 2017
Chris Finley’s "Drool, Snatch, Clean and Jerk" presents fractured faces — and some not so fractured — evocative of Picasso, the subject of which is weightlifting. Distorted and visceral, Finley focuses our visual attention on Olympic weightlifters poised in intense moments of exertion, performing the snatch as well as the clean and jerk. For those not versed in lifting terminology, the snatch is a continuous motion event involving lifting the barbell; the clean and jerk creates two lifting movements.
Working in sign enamel on canvas over panel, Finley’s “Drool, Snatch, Clean and Jerk #1” is a layered succession of geometric facial images caught in a tooth-baring grimace. “Drool, Snatch #1” depicts a single face bisected and fragmented. The artist’s color palette is pink, red, white — and bold; eyes pop out in green and brown. These are the colors of flesh, strain and achievement. We can feel the struggle of the weightlifter, almost hear the howls of achievement.
