Green Hands and Faces

Green Hands and Faces is from a powerful group of paintings by Ross Bleckner that take on a subject of importance to the artist since the 1980s—the loss of friends and loved ones to AIDS. Each luminous spot on the canvas's surface stands metaphorically as a glowing flame, a flickering symbol of a deceased person whose life remains as a memory. As if created by a source emanating from the depth of darkness, the "hands" and "faces" are the result of fine modulation of reflective oil paint and varnish.