Two decades after creating his first large-scale diptych, New York Artist in His Studio/Vermeer's "Artist in His Studio" (The Artist in His Studio, diptych)... Deem again appropriated the master's Artist in His Studio (The Art of Painting) (ca.1666-67) for this pair of canvases. Subtracting the figures and leaving a chair, the stool, the map, the easel, the windows, and the tiled floor, Deem created negative/positive views of the room, giving one and then the other a finished or unfinished appearance. The presumably finished product -- the diptych you see here -- becomes a meditation on process and poses questions related to "finished" vs. "unfinished" works of art. (David Dearinger, exhibition wall text, George Deem: The Art of Art History, The Boston Athenaeum, April 11 - September 1, 2012).