Sugar 2009

Beatriz Milhazes made Sugar with paint on canvas. There's a real sense of play here; she must have been in her studio, feeling her way around with color and shape, almost like building up a collage, layer by layer. I can imagine Milhazes thinking about the surface, pushing and pulling the paint, making decisions, and then changing her mind. Check out those circles – some filled in, some just outlines – bumping up against stripes and polka dots. The colours feel so alive, like they're buzzing with energy. She’s pulling from everywhere, Brazilian culture, European modernism, Op art… It makes me think about how artists are always in conversation with each other across time, you know? Like, we’re all riffing off each other, building on what came before, trying to make something new and exciting. Painting is like this ongoing experiment, a way of seeing and feeling, without any fixed meanings, just pure possibility.