A Favorite Bechtle
Robert Bechtle’s work is very “realistic,” but his compositions can be so deftly out of left field that the effect verges on the abstract.
As here, in “Potrero Table” (1994). All the shapes are deliciously realized–run your eye around the table and the chairs, the plates, the light window frame shape that just touches the far chair. The reflections in the windows. Every shape is considered and important in itself. Nothing is awkward or “left over.”
And there’s that psychological element. Where are they looking? And why? It’s not a story, but not just a pose, either.
All very rich and satisfying.