4 Nectarines and an Egg 4 個のネクタリンと卵

Over the large surface of a square 2.4 meters on each side, we first see the four bright yellow nectarines. Then, on more careful examination, we begin to see a black oval that sits on the nectarines as if to reign over them. This black shape is the "egg". Represented in a matte mass of tar, it also looks like a bottomless hole bored at the center of the painting. This makes the spatial relationships between the colors and shapes ambiguous. On the other hand, the extreme largeness of the image in comparison to the actual fruits makes the representation unreal. We first take the painting as a still life, but then we begin to see it as a very abstract picture. Donald Sultan has turned images taken from reportage photographs from newspapers, earlier paintings (such as those by Manet), and his own Polaroids of still lifes into unique works with the use of his original technique employing hardboard, linoleum tiles, tar, and other industrial materials. They use conventional traditions in painting (such as the still life) and, at the same time, present the deconstruction of these same traditions in themselves, and are counted among one of the most important achievements in the American painting of the 1980s.