Here We are in Croydon 1979

"Here We Are in Croydon" by Howard Hodgkin, is like looking through a window smeared with feeling. Hodgkin lays down these big, brushed strokes of red, framing something darker within. I bet he started with something else entirely, maybe a memory of a place, and then painted it out, over and over, 'til it became this raw, emotional space. I can almost feel the push and pull he must have experienced, building up the surface, scraping it back, trying to get it just right. See how the red isn't just one note? It varies, thick in some spots, almost transparent in others, creating this pulsing energy. It's like he's not just showing us a place, but the feeling of being there, the intensity of a moment. Painters are always in conversation with each other across time, picking up where others left off, adding their own mark. To me, this piece isn’t about a literal Croydon, but about how painting captures something felt, something lived, something ambiguous that keeps shifting the more you look.