“Standing Before” is part of “Carrying,” a new series that considers our relationship with the world and how we perceive it. The painting began with photographs I took at LACMA’s new galleries—people standing in a public space, absorbed in a private encounter. For years, I have photographed legs, feet and bodies in museums. The body often reveals the experience more honestly than the face does. Attention has a physical presence. It changes posture, interrupts movement and temporarily narrows the world to the distance between the viewer and the object being viewed. The series focuses on that distance—and on what we bring to an encounter and what we carry away from it. I began “Standing Before” as an underpainting and expected to develop it through additional layers. After a few sessions, I stopped. Its unfinished quality holds the experience more directly.