Trader

Appearance and posture are fundamental in the painting’s conception and also in its composition. The corpulent, fat, broadly spread figure fills the entire canvas; it even extends beyond the painting’s edges. There is something threatening about the exaggerated span of the man’s shoulders – this trader cannot be fully trusted. The head’s roundness almost reminds one of a balloon – also because of the strong red used in depicting it. The man’s stoutness is a sign of his wealth, but it also represents a certain danger to the belongings of those doing business with him. The painting has been expunged of details: it is not interested in communicating particulars, and thus everything in it is there to serve the statement “trader”. The artist is interested in great form, in the essence of the component forms coalescing beyond individual elements to produce a statement. The artist endeavors to condense the typicality of the person and the situation into an enduring sign of human existence.