Medusa 2011

Carmen Delaco’s 'Medusa' is like a wrestling match between color and form, rendered, I imagine, with oil on canvas. The palette here is like a muddy dream, all ochres and grays, except for the snakes which are a riot of color. Look at the surface, how Delaco builds up these layers, thick and thin, like sediment, allowing the image to emerge, almost reluctantly. And what about those snakes, each one a little brushstroke gone wild? There's one in particular, just above Medusa’s left eye, a flash of cadmium red in its open mouth, it’s like a punctuation mark in this sea of muted tones, a moment of pure, unadulterated expression. Delaco reminds me of Leon Golub, in the way they both use painting to get at something raw and primal. Art isn't about answers, it's about the questions, and this painting is buzzing with them.