I became a Tooker fan when I was in high school (odd kid, eh?), but I've never found the paintings disturbing actually. I react to them the way I do to Beckett's ohio impromptu: I find them somehow exhilarating. Aquinas says somewhere that truth is the conformity of the mind to reality. That's what thse paintings - and Beckett's little play - do for me. And truth can be exhilarating.
... paintings like Government Bureau, Ward, and the chilling Landscape With Figures - humans imprisoned in a warren of tiny cubicles - not only still resonate but can also even be mildly frightening."humans imprisoned in a warren of tiny cubicles"? Sounds like the Inquirer newsroom.
More thinking alike here Frank - I used the word exhilarating when I reviewed Beckett's Ill Seen Ill Said years ago (when I was still reviewing books). I think great art is always exhilarating ultimately - and certainly bad art can be seriously depressing.
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