So Far So Good. Acrylic Pop Art Painting on Canvas
A graceful dancing woman, modelled on the French dancer and actress Leslie Caron, moves with elegance and composure, fully absorbed in her art.
In contrast, a man is upside down in free fall, his suit a loud pattern of coloured squares overlaid with Doug’s familiar grid.
The contrast is immediate: her controlled movement set against his helpless descent.
His suit carries its own elegance, yet it reads as chaotic beside the clarity and function of the woman’s costume.
A startled pigeon flutters away from the impending impact.
The man, governed by gravity, has no control over his fate, with no parachute, literal or otherwise.
While the woman’s setting suggests a dance studio or stage, safe and calm, the man plummets through open sky, with only by fragments of stylised architecture.
*Artist Doug Kemp with ‘So Far, So Good’ painting
His fedora obscures much of his expression, although there is a suggestion of a faint smile, perhaps a trace of irony in the face of inevitability.
In So Far, So Good, Doug may be reflecting on the precariousness of modern life, where moments of balance and control can exist alongside sudden instability.
