悦来枯竹 2019

王新福 made this painting, 悦来枯竹, using thick, expressive marks of paint. The textures feel almost sculptural, standing out from the canvas like a relief. Each stroke is a physical assertion, a record of the artist's movement and energy. The artist uses a limited colour palette with ochres and blues dominating. There's one particular spot, about halfway up on the right side, where the paint clumps together in a swirl of dark colour. It’s like the eye of a storm, pulling you into the painting. This relates to the whole piece as a sort of organized chaos, mirroring the natural world. It reminds me of the late work of Joan Mitchell, in that both painters transform observations of nature into an emotional landscape of colour and texture, a process of pushing paint around until it makes sense.