Forbidden Fruit envelops us in pattern and movement, as we face a figure seated before a still life of fruit. Informed by the artist’s travels through Morocco, the painting blazes with vivid color and confidently loose handling of paint. Her imagery, structure, and color recall modern art in turn-of-the-century Paris and “the boys,” as she calls artists Paul Cézanne and Henri Matisse. O’Neal reclaims the legacy of “the boys,” opening up space to situate her abstraction within these renowned styles.