Judith Roth and the Power of the Uh-Oh

Artist, Judith Roth, "Seated Dancer on Green Chair", 2009, 48"x50", oil on canvas, currently on display at A.R.C. Gallery, Chicago until February 27, 2010, as part of a group exhibit, "Off Center" under the auspices of the Chicago Women's Caucus for Art.

Judith Roth is a classically trained artist, out of the Boston Museum School and Skowhegan. Perhaps uniquely nowadays, she works exclusively from live models, even in this age of the ubiquitous and multiple photo realities.

The real title of this piece could be "Uh-Oh and Proud of It." If you look closely,  you can see that this work of art is a diptych, made up of two canvases, there's a joint that you can see in the right side foot. Judith started the piece and ran out of room to finish. A lesser artist would have repainted and in so doing, adjusted the scale to fit the existing canvas. But what Judith did instead, in a flash of creative problem solving, was run to get a second canvas to extend the scale of the work. In so doing, she honored and preserved the immediacy of the marks and trusted her eye and hand. She trusted her years of painting and drawing.

Just for grins is a work on paper by Ida Appelbroog, demonstrating much the same happy accident.