Robert Weaver: Self Portrait A MONA Moment By Ron Roth Director Museum of Nebraska Art

The gaze of Nebraska artist Robert Weaver--his self portrait--pierces the space of a side gallery here at the Museum of Nebraska Art. His face fills the large frame, about four feet high and three feet across, and it is coming at you as you enter the gallery. Woe to the other prints and paintings in this gallery. The Weaver portrait voraciously dominates the space. The eyes squint in the glare of harsh light. They suggest a tough, worldly-wise, personality. A toothpick jauntily thrusts out of his lower lip.

Looking at this oil painting at a distance, the color and composition blend into balance. The pale yellows of the sun-bleached face are enriched by highlights of orange/brown flesh tones. From the crows feet wrinkles of his right eye run an effluvia of brown streams cascading into his temple and lower hairline. A black background surrounded by an unexpected but inspired border of bright orange/red further pushes the portrait out into space and into our face.

But when we get closer, the power of the individual brushstrokes takes over. Most of the brushstrokes are as wide as an inch, and take on an interesting and lush life of their own. hey move across the paper in individual streams of color--robust and inner directed.

Now, get real close, just six inches away from this piece. Don't worry, there is a protective sheet of Plexiglas protecting the painting. Enjoy those rich snakes of color as they move out from the center of Weaver's face with a fife of their own. You will be surprised by hints of burgundy in the lower lip, the varied bounty of hues and pigments that emerge and power these rivers of colors flowing quickly through the face. The patch of sweatshirt we see is not one blue, but a dozen shades of blue in dynamic movement.

Even the thick paper of the painting is caught up in the rhythm. It is crinkled and undulates like the surface of the sea, enlarging the rubbery, elastic, fluid movement of the brushstrokes on its surface. Robert Weaver, a great Nebraska artist.