Mirrors & Eyes

1994

Mirrors & Eyes, 1994. John L. Moore (American, b. 1939). Oil on canvas; unframed: 203.2 x 172.7 cm (80 x 68 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Jane Farver 2009.437 © John L. Moore Moore blends recognizable images with abstraction to address memory and history. Here, the painting’s turbulent surface suggests water, in which three oval mirrors--hauntingly without reflections--and four eyeballs appear to float. This imagery seemingly refers to loss of identity and life during the Middle Passage, whereby kidnapped Africans were shipped across the Atlantic to the Americas to be enslaved. Ovoid mirrors are a hallmark of the artist's style and appear in much of his work.