Abstract Expressionist Painting - Large, of Era, Unidentified

Another 1999 St. louis thrift store purchase. Now that i thought about it a bit i remember acquiring this enigmatic gem for 17$ at the value village in Shrewsberry on old Route 66 just past the ‘ship it on the frisco’ train line.

It is the largest artwork i have ever owned. Impressive in its thickness of canvas stretched on thick but lightweight boards. It has a gravity to it but i wouldnt consider it heavy.

Here is a picture of me also in 1999 standing in front of ‘the golden wall’ by Hans Hoffman in the Chicago art institute. No flash was used so they said it was ok to take. My friend Mikael Lagerblad mizzou student from Germany took the shot.

So over the years i have always wondered whom the artist was. There is a potential for it to be an early Rothko, perhaps a Franz Kline, Elaine de Kooning. My guess is that it is a Robert Motherwell. The painting can take on all types of meaning. For me i have always called it the man with hat which ties into some dream like memory i had of talking with some strange person about art over a cup of rocket fuel at the coffee zone downtown Columbia mo. I had a color marker drawing on the back of a band flyer. He mentioned something about a man with hat on and was referring to me. Years later i would find a computer printed copy of that same drawing nicely framed at an antique store except where i had composed it as an abstract futuristic vehicle this was framed in such a way that sideways it was an art deco looking man and woman. Very Odd super strange anomaly that somehow ties in to my experience of this piece. At one direction hung he wears a skinny porkpie. The direction hung as in the first shot and i see the iconic space helmet style of the the early american astronauts.

Any input is welcome. What do you think?