This is my favorite David Park painting, Woman with Red Mouth, painted in 1954-55.
In the midst of the Abstract Expressionist craze, think Jackson Pollack, Park turned towards more representational work, creating solid forms in bold colors.
I love the boldness of this figure; she is attractive and strong without objectification, which seemed to be an irresistible temptation for some male artists of the period.
Park said that he liked to paint what he saw; kids playing in the street, musicians, friends, and people in their houses.
Toward the end of the decade, Parks painted classical studio nudes and bathers in a monumental style. After he became too ill to work with oils, he continued painting in watercolors, until his untimely death in 1960, at the age of 49.
When asked why he turned from Abstract Expressionism to a more representational style he said,
“When you get older you realize that you are you.”
Yup!