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Allison Katz XO , 2009 Oil on canvas, 14 × 17 in. Collection of the artist
A motif in Katz’s oeuvre is the bruised pear. This draws on her interest in memento mori, the bodily descriptor “pear-shaped,” and her recollections of her grandmother’s insistence that the most spoiled parts of the fruit are always the sweetest. In this canvas, a pair of overripe pears—nestling up against each other with subtly eroticized forms—conjure a kind of organic, rotting love story. It was painted over fifteen years ago, after Katz saw a large exhibition of Pompeian wall painting. The graffitied “XO”s in the background suggest an ancient or digital barrage of hugs and kisses, a sign-off to a lover. —HJ
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