The Detectives V2. Acrylic pop art painting
Panels framed with brightly coloured edging divide the composition into narrative segments, each suggesting heightened moments typical of the dramas of 1940s and 1950s pulp fiction and film noir.
In the centre, a man holds a gun dramatically pointed downward, aimed at something or someone out of frame.
A stylised cityscape
He is set against a background of a stylised cityscape, as if it were viewed through the slats of a Venetian blind, supporting the sense of intrigue and cinematic suspense.
A woman stands further in the background, dressed in an elegant evening gown. She is set against a vivid chevron pattern which anchors the individual panels of the composition, while she remains detached from the immediate action of the scenes.
*Artist Doug Kemp with the Detectives V2 Painting
Witness, accomplice or femme fatale
Her posture and placement hint at her significance, possibly central to whatever plot the viewer might imagine. She could be a witness, an accomplice, a femme fatale or, perhaps, even a victim. Her role is left deliberately ambiguous.
Doug’s use of framing transforms the painting almost into a film storyboard. Detectives v.2 captures the suggestion of narrative, suspended moments of tension, glamour and danger.
