Ascension on a School Trip 2017

Jana Brike, born in 1980, painted *Ascension on a School Trip* with a detailed brush, layering figures and landscapes into a surreal scene. I love the color palette here; it's both dreamlike and slightly off-kilter. I can imagine her standing in front of the canvas, layering the figures and landscapes like memories. The girls float—or is it fall?—through a blizzard of blue flowers, against a backdrop of majestic mountains. It's like a painting of in-between-ness. It reminds me of the way Paula Rego used to paint childhood as this creepy, beautiful thing. There's a tenderness here, but also something a little unsettling, especially in the doll-like faces and frozen gestures. It's like Brike is trying to capture a moment of fleeting innocence. Painting is so cool, because it lets artists freeze time like this, or is it liberate time? It's an embodied expression and a conversation with other artists. It's more than a simple picture, it's another way of seeing.