Larry Groff interviews painter Donald Beal whose work will be on view in On the Shoulder of Giants, curated by Thaddeus Radell, at Westbeth Gallery, New York, on view through March 25, 2017.

Beal comments: “The paintings done from life have given me the chops I need to meaningfully push color and tone around until it eventually begins to congeal into a person, place, or thing. Increasingly these forms feel partially shaped by some version of memory. This has been a productive way for me to work, since I don’t seem to be able to consciously go right to a painting that’s about this or that. These paintings are founded through an abstract language first and foremost and content arrives organically as a result.”