2017, Lari Pittman, Pathos, Ethos, Logos, Kairos [Nos. 4, 1, and 2, from left to right] -- The Broad (Los Angeles)

From the museum label: Lari Pittman's portraits are titled after the classical modes of persuasion famously described in ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle's Rhetoric. Pathos is persuasion that appeals to the emotions of the listener. Ethos is an appeal to authority. Logos is persuasion by logical argument. Kairos is an argument that uses the weight of time and place. As with many Pittman paintings, the content of the work—in this case, speech, argument, and expression—joins formal strategies to create the overall effect. The people depicted are found against, and sometimes absorbed by, whirling fields of abstract shapes. These patterns are inspired by a wide array of sources, from textiles to decorative objects to the history of art. The result is disorienting; the space appears flattened like the backgrounds of religious icons. Pittman's rhetoricians also have halos, like saints or angels.

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