Anais 2015

Sofia Bonati made this piece called Anais with what looks like watercolour and ink, and it’s got such a distinctive way of seeing. I love how the orange just pops, and the black outlines give it this graphic, almost poster-like feel. The way the colours bleed just a tiny bit outside the lines, you can tell it’s watercolour, not digital, which gives it a certain charm and makes you feel like you’re witnessing a process. Look at the butterfly wings – you can almost feel the delicacy of their pattern. Bonati uses the contrast between the crisp lines and the softness of the watercolour to create depth, drawing us into this figure's world. The linear composition is almost Art Deco, like Tamara de Lempicka maybe, but in a softer key. It all makes you think about art as a conversation across time, a never-ending exchange of ideas.