Triptych

It’s not really a triptych, it’s one painting. But there are prominent vertical lines that suggest a division into three parts.
Altar pieces in the Middle Ages often took the form of a triptych, where the center panel was larger and depicted the main theological message. In this painting, however, the center “panel” is rather vacant. It has the least detail. It leaves you peaceful and open to possibilities. Your eye is drawn to the edges, where the action is and this keeps you jumpin’, as they say in jazz.
At the top left there’s a circular form, a sort of blue balloon atop a narrow black “stem.” Of course, we associate this to a human head. The artist’s intention was to balance the  disk in the lower right corner. But in the upper part of a painting such a round shape (especially on a “stem”) will trigger the human association. Once we have that, we can even find legs in the painting.
This reminded me of the games Picasso plays.
Painting by Michael Quoss, oil on canvas, 30”x40”.
Pablo Picasso, “The Shadow,” 1953.
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