Something that realist work has going for it — inherently — is the caring for transitions, edges, everything seen and cared for. That care can become overly anticipated and rote — but the need for attention is understood, at least theoretically. One of the things often overlooked in the general myth of de Kooning and action painting was the actual slow deliberation of looking and attending. Watching and finding the right transition from part to part, the right mark, the right edge — that serves the vision. That takes patience and receptivity and care. And it nurtures and urges the painting towards indivisibility. There is love. That, in the end, is what gives the work real life. The urging and steering and vision of the heart. No matter if the appearance of the work is realist, expressionist, minimalist (Agnes Martin!) — love is love, care is care, attention is attention, presence is presence.