Floralia 2019

Mary Jane Ansell made this painting, Floralia, and whatever its date, the artist must have mixed her oils with a touch of dream. Ansell goes in for some old-school illusionism, sure, but then throws in these tiny, almost imperceptible details that pull you back to the surface. See the way the light hits the model’s cheek, those hyper-real edges? You want to reach out and touch it. It’s like she’s breathing, but then the flatness of the black background reminds you it’s just paint. It’s this dance between representation and what's actually there that makes it so interesting. I think it is a bit like a Pre-Raphaelite painting with a touch of Lisa Yuskavage, or maybe John Currin. It embraces ambiguity and multiple readings over fixed, definitive meanings.