Sour Patch 2015

Camilla d’Errico made this painting, Sour Patch, with what looks like acrylic on canvas, layering delicate washes and luminous glazes. Just imagine the quiet concentration it takes to bring something like this into being – working on the background first, maybe, and then slowly building up the layers of colour and detail, like the sugary rainbow of the unicorn horn. The colors are so sweet but the feeling is melancholic and strange. She may have been thinking about the kawaii aesthetic while making this, and the broader history of portraiture. Maybe she was thinking about Mark Ryden, or Yoshitomo Nara. There is a long line of painters who have influenced and inspired one another, across time and place. Artists pick up on things, riff on them, and make them their own, and the whole crazy conversation just keeps going.