Alex Katz People, 2013
The line of figures wading into the sea in People (2013) represents one of the rare occasions when Alex Katz inserts human figures into his seascapes. Rather than contradicting the abstraction of the large expanse of water that dominates the foreground, the social triviality these characters embody adds a touch of narrative playfulness to the work. The adults and children are joined by a dog, while the row of paddling people is formally echoed by the moored boats in the background. Water had featured in Katz’s early paintings, but it wasn’t until his retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American Art in 1986 that it became a subject in its own right. Beginning with his ongoing Black Brook series, the artist set out to capture water in all its forms, from breaking waves to flowing streams and stagnant ponds, painting swift oil sketches in nature which he turned into large-scale environmental works in his studio. Katz paints quickly in his studio, adopting a wet-on-wet technique, where the entire composition must be finished before the first layer has time to dry. This has led to the development of his rapid, syncopated brushwork, which captures a fleeting impression of what he terms the ‘immediate present’.
