Burnaway: Deathbed Scene by Jacob Todd Broussard at Wolfgang Gallery, Atlanta

It starts with an orb, at least according to Jacob Todd Broussard. The artist points towards a small work by the lesser-known modernist painter Forrest Bess, Untitled (1950),”1 by addressing it in his painting and the accompanying essay by Emile Mausner also speaks to the work. Bess’ painting is a strange object, employing scarce symbols sourced from a dream state and framed in driftwood sourced near his home. In Broussard’s painting it is framed once, then twice more, viewed on an older television as an Antiques Roadshow segment. This translation, from dream-like vision to painting to television broadcast to painting again, is essential to understanding Broussard’s secret histories. I likely would’ve never seen Bess’ painting without Broussard as my guide.