Sum
1958
Inspired by the techniques of American painters such as Lee Krasner and Jackson Pollock, Ossorio worked in a calligraphic and abstract style. In fact, he was a patron of the Abstract Expressionists and, like them, concentrated his paintings and assemblages on “forms and shapes” that were “dictated by the ideas rather than by appearance.” His sensuous lines and serpentine shapes convey a sense of struggle, as if Ossorio grappled with reconciling his queerness and his Catholic faith on the surface of his works. His abstract technique provides no resolute answers, and this very ambiguity of form could be indicative of his complex and tangled identity.
Oil on Masonite
96 x 48 in. (243.8 x 121.9 cm)
The Ossorio Foundation
2010.22.2
Provenance: Artist by descent to Ossorio Foundation
Photo: Nathaniel Willson
