Smash
Smash
By Jonathan McAfee
Smash is a deeply striking, soulful, and visually vibrant 24x36in. oil painting on canvas by Evergreen, Colorado artist Jonathan McAfee. This vertical figurative work, referenced as Smash_Framedborder.jpg, captures a powerful moment of athletic tension, featuring a female tennis player from the torso down. Clad in a highly detailed, white tennis dress, she grips her racquet tightly with one hand while her other hand rests, fingers slightly flared, against her upper thigh, conveying commanding readiness. The work beautifully expands upon McAfee's signature style by juxtaposing a deeply serious, texturized figure against an exuberant, abstract backdrop of a court, turning a classic sporting figure into a complex and celebratory contemporary masterwork.
McAfee showcases a masterful handling of techniques, seamless in its synthesis of heavily layered, sculptural oil strokes in the figure. The player's muscular legs and hands are rendered with an intense, expressive impasto—using fractured tones of electric pink, deep plum, and cool turquoise to carve out a look of profound physical exertion and resilience. Her white dress is a visual feast of textured pattern play, combining subtle lavender and blue-grey washes with thick, energetic strokes. In a brilliant structural contrast, this highly tactile figure is set against a solid, deep forest-green backdrop populated by abstract-graphic court lines in bold shades of rich sienna, golden yellow, turquoise blue, and bright orange. Housed in a striking, complementary pink floater frame (as seen in Smash_Framedborder.jpg), it is a powerful, high-energy statement piece that effortlessly bridges modern pop design with the soulful emotional depth of contemporary figurative art.
Specifications
- Dimensions: 24x36in. (Canvas), approximately 25x37in. (Framed)
- Medium: Oil on canvas
- Artist: Jonathan McAfee (Evergreen, CO)
- Framing: Included, pink floater frame.
- Style: Contemporary Figurative / Modern Expressionism