Marlene DumasMagnetic Fields (for Margaux Hemingway)2008Collection Thomas Koerfer, Zurich Of the new ones in the current MoMA show, this is my favorite. However, I’m beginning to think that revealing the photographic sources so readily is a distraction rather than an enhancement. While I think it’s an act of generosity on the artist’s part to divulge her sources, I prefer the mystery of not knowing (or at least not knowing right away)—especially with works like this, which hover between abstraction and representation. Let them linger there for as long as possible.

Marlene Dumas
Magnetic Fields (for Margaux Hemingway)
2008
Collection Thomas Koerfer, Zurich

Of the new ones in the current MoMA show, this is my favorite. However, I’m beginning to think that revealing the photographic sources so readily is a distraction rather than an enhancement. While I think it’s an act of generosity on the artist’s part to divulge her sources, I prefer the mystery of not knowing (or at least not knowing right away)—especially with works like this, which hover between abstraction and representation. Let them linger there for as long as possible.