Radio Silence 2021

Michael Cheval's painting, Radio Silence, invites us into a world where the familiar and the fantastical waltz together on canvas. The rich, almost theatrical use of colour – those deep purples against the shimmering greens – suggests a dreamscape where anything is possible. Look at the texture of the woman's headpiece, it’s rendered so smoothly, it's hard to believe this is paint and not velvet. Then there's the sheer oddness of the goldfish swimming in the frame above her head. The artist's process seems to involve a careful layering of images and ideas, building up to a composition that's as puzzling as it is pleasing. It reminds me a bit of the surrealist painter, René Magritte, but with a contemporary twist. Like Magritte, Cheval challenges our perceptions and invites us to question what we see. In the end, it’s not about finding a single answer, but about embracing the questions themselves.