text below

Jack Balas, 2007; TROJAN (#103-270); oil and enamel on canvas; 38" x 32"

Text: "I give up. Not that I understand what this painting needs, let alone means. But there are 5 or 6 other guys layered beneath this guy on the floor: one with his hands over his eyes (two attempts); others about to drop a towel or his pants; images about concealing and now hidden atop one another in a parallel sense. But to invert this literal surrender, maybe this cloud wants to show you how to reveal these guys, as layered, fleeting, there and then not, and with the grand ability to slap depth and dance across the face of an otherwise brilliant blue-sky day -- in short an army that is not the battle but the prize. I used to call this painting "Trojan" and I still do."