Amy Sillman

Amy Sillman endeavors to question and expand the rules governing abstraction by means of the painting process, yet her works evade any claim to be figurative. In an interview, the artist explained that while the figurative divides painting into foreground and background, abstract painting seeks to dissolve those categories. In superimposing various layers of colors and forms, she is able to create a motif that defies the tradition of foreground and background, yet creates depth. Layering is fundamental in Sillman’s works and working process, layers are both superimposed and removed, creating   compositions that are untamed and multidimensional.

This painting, with its yellow accents and robust black, curved forms, renders the banana tree signaled by the title. Even if no object has been painted, the artist’s verbal addition invites us, in looking at the painting, to distinguish the features of a banana tree.