Psychological and Symbolic Effect:

The partial abstraction blurs individuality, the figures represent “people in general” rather than distinct identities.

Background abstraction isolates the crowd from a concrete time and place, creating a timeless, universal human experience.

This choice mirrors Cucaro’s philosophy: the focus is less on a historical moment or specific narrative and more on human connection as a living, flowing entity.

How It Fits In The Era:

By combining gestural abstraction with simplified figures, Cucaro is simultaneously:

-Paying homage to the dominant Abstract Expressionist ideas of energy and brushwork

-Aligning with Bay Area Figurative concerns about the human form and social reality

Yet he diverges: the figures remain a collective subject, not an individual protagonist, and abstraction is supportive, not overwhelming.

This positions Cucaro in a unique intersection:

He occupies the middle ground between expressive abstraction and human-centered figuration but bends both toward humanism rather than ego or narrative.

Abstract Expressionism: Very high intensity, low figuration—gestures dominate over identifiable figures.

Bay Area Figurative: High figuration, moderate intensity—figures and narrative are central, with painterly expression

Cucaro’s People-People: Mid-level figuration (simplified/partially abstracted figures), high communal energy—figures interact as a collective, while the abstraction of background and movement amplifies rhythm and emotion.

The small abstract figure symbols and brushstroke icons reinforce how Cucaro bridges abstraction and figuration, creating a hybrid style emphasizing human connection over individual prominence.

Unlike many artists who aligned themselves firmly with either the "gestural abstraction of New York Abstract Expressionism" or the "human-centered clarity of Bay Area Figurative painting", Cucaro deliberately refused to pick a side. Instead, he synthesized elements from both:

From Abstract Expressionism:

-Gestural brushwork

-Dynamic, rhythmic energy

-Emotional abstraction

From Bay Area Figurative:

-Human figure as central subject

-Social interaction and narrative

-Psychological and communal presence

But he didn’t just mix them superficially. In "People-People", abstraction and figuration work together to serve the humanist theme rather than a stylistic allegiance. His crowds aren’t just compositional experiments, they are expressions of human connection and collective experience.

In that sense, he was a “peacemaker” in the art world, bridging stylistic tensions while avoiding the dogma of either camp. At the same time, some traditionalists might have seen him as a troublemaker for refusing to conform and for "blurring the boundaries between abstraction and figuration", forcing viewers to reconsider what the figure and crowd could represent.

It’s a perfect artistic embodiment of his philosophy: "humanity over ideology", connection over strict allegiance.

"You don't have to abandon people to achieve expressive freedom."

To the Figurative painters he seems to say:

"You don't have to sacrifice expressive energy to paint people."

That's a subtle rebellion.

It further appears that Cucaro may have viewed the entire abstraction-versus-figuration debate as somewhat secondary.

For Pollock, the subject was often paint itself.

For many figurative painters, the subject was the individual.

For Cucaro, the subject appears to have been:

Humanity.

Everything else—abstraction, figuration, color, gesture, composition—was simply a tool for expressing that larger idea.

Which leads to a fascinating interpretation:

Pollock painted action.

Bay Area Figurative painters painted people.

Cucaro painted people as action.

That may be why the People-People works feel so distinctive. They don't merely occupy a middle ground between two movements. They transform the conflict between those movements into something else entirely: a visual celebration of human beings in motion together.