Untitled (Shag Painting)

Jim Isermann
Untitled (Shag Painting)
Enamel paint and orlon acrylic yarn on wood, 1988
96 x 48 inches, each panel
Museum purchase with funds provided by the Contemporary Collectors Council
2008.002

Untitled (Shag Painting) (1988), in the collection of the Laguna Art Museum, is the first painting in which Jim Isermann used yarn that he hand-hooked. In this diptych, the left panel is a smooth enamel surface, with bold purple and orange swirls that encompass the entire panel. The background is divided by two colors, yellow and green. On the right panel, Isermann mirrors the form of the left with acrylic yarn, recalling the shag-carpet aesthetic that dominated domestic environments in the 1970s Untitled (Shag Painting) creates a physical experience of movement that carries the tenuous balance of domestic and monumental scale.