Room

Draped upon the top of a stool is a tangle of long, skinny legs, each ending in an upturned shoe sole. These legs are a recurring motif of Philip Guston’s late work, and their unexpected scale and limpness turn a familiar bodily feature into something surprising and disorienting. Although depicted in a style recalling comic book imagery, the pile of detached limbs may indirectly suggest collective histories of violence. Guston located them within a confined domestic space where, in the background, a shade is pulled over a window, closing off any visual outlet.