Maureen O'Connor's Compote of Lemons with Ducks

What I like about this painting is its potential accessibility to a varied spectrum of viewers and its understated presentation of painterly ability.

This is a work by an artist who projects her love of art history through the depiction of a very idiosyncratic cast of still life characters with the utmost attention and affection. Colors are specific and intentional with no evidence of muddy mixtures.

Figures are positioned so that they engage in a dialogue with the colors and shapes on the printed fabric. Simultaneously, a dynamic composition (that is symmetric and geometric) carries the viewer's attention to specific locations in the work.

There is much in this work for many a contemporary viewer to enjoy. While I sense a genuine engagement between the artist and the objects she paints, others may respond differently.

Some may delight in the over-the-top simultaneity of pattern and decoration in this work. Others may enjoy the presence of irony and kitsch. Still others may detect in the works unabashed happiness, a foil to much of contemporary visual culture.