Epistrophy I
1980 (Date manufactured/created)
Oil
canvas, painting
Epistrophy, inspired by the Thelonius Monk jazz composition, refers to the resolution of contrary movements in the formation of crystal. Signed, titled, and dated on reverse. "Cajori / Ephistrophy I / 1980". Abstraction of two or more seated female figures in yellow at acute angles in a gray room with pink floor. Additional structures in green and blue. Mass increases in complexity to upper center of canvas where it is silhouetted in black. Cajori is a respected painter who came from NY to northwest Connecticut, and is a second generation Abstract Expressionist with an interest in the human figure. Classically trained and a fastidious draftsman, Cajori shifted to modernist vocabulary after seeing the work of Picasso. But he never totally deleted the figure and his work reveals the tension between figuration and abstraction. His expansive, colorful expressionist paintings meld the form of the figure with its surrounding landscape.
Gift of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, 1981
81.1