The butcher shop 1956

Panayiotis Tetsis made ‘The Butcher Shop’ with oil on canvas, and the energy in the scene comes from his loose brushwork. The colour palette here is all about the earthy tones, you know? Raw umber, sienna, and ochre, blended with fleshy pinks and whites. There’s a real emphasis on texture, so the paint is applied in thick, expressive strokes, giving the whole scene a tactile quality. Looking closely, you can see how he used the brush almost sculpturally, loading it up with paint and then dragging it across the canvas to create these dynamic, almost frenzied marks, especially around the hanging carcasses. There’s a touch of Chaim Soutine in this, maybe? Both artists find a strange, visceral beauty in the subject of raw meat. Ultimately, though, Tetsis’s painting celebrates the act of looking and feeling, reminding us that art is always a conversation, an ongoing process of exchange.