An intricate monograph for a major retrospective of fine artist and cartoonist Guy Colwells 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 19872023. 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 Colwells 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 womens limbs. Each image has a narrative and a moral purposeoften, one figure bravely moves forward, despite a hostile crowd. In Guy Colwells 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.

Full-color illustrations throughout