David Brega, "Unfinished Business" oil on board, 1993. Signed and dated top left, "David Brega '93". Board: 26.25"H x 16.5"W; Frame: 33.5"H x 23.625"W. PROVENANCE: Hollis Taggart Galleries, New York (label verso). From the Collection of Sam Wyly, Dallas, Texas (acquired from the above in 1997). EXHIBITED: Museum of Fine Arts, Springfield, Massachusetts, "David Brega and Douglas Brega: Oil and Water," September 20 - December 31, 2000 (label verso); Albrecht-Kemper Museum of Art, St. Joseph, Missouri, March 2 - June 6, 2001. NOTE: This whimsical play on Gilbert Stuart's famous unfinished portrait of the first President has several humorous visual asides. Firstly, the noted portrait takes on a postcard form here and is taped to the backside of what appears to be a well-worn piece of furniture. However, not to be outdone by Stuart's original, the ruse is up at the bottom of the work as the wooden texture falls away, giving way to a neutral surface and the punctuation of a gently-folded red dot. David Brega (American, b. 1948) is one of the foremost contemporary American practitioners of the tromp l'oeil painting style.