Go Figure: Figurative Social Surrealist Paintings

An intricate monograph for a major retrospective of fine artist and cartoonist Guy Colwell’s figurative paintings, each teeming with life, sparkling with color, rich in observational and sharp social commentary.

Go Figure collects 44 “social surrealist” figurative paintings, spanning 1987–2023. All are in eye-popping color: many depict a crowd in observational tableaux, each figure a character by virtue of dress, body language, and interactions with each other, animals, and their setting. Other paintings reflect Colwell’s wide travels, and still others are surreal — such as “Junior and the Legs” (2023), which shows a young man strumming a guitar on stage, accompanied by disembodied women’s limbs. Each image has a narrative and a moral purpose—often, one figure bravely moves forward, despite a hostile crowd. In Guy Colwell’s world, no individual could ever be an island, just another part of a rich ecosystem.

Thematically, then, it is fitting that this book was made possible by a group of his collectors, who are sponsoring the show/Guy Colwell retrospective “Imaginary Reality,” from which this book is created, in an independent space. Go Figure is in an 11” X 11” format, to best feature the high-quality reproductions of these numerous critically praised works, which range in size from 1 2/25’ x 1 ¼’ to 7 ¼’ x 8’.