Elina 2021

Curator: We’re looking at Vincent Xeus's painting, "Elina," created in 2021. It's an acrylic portrait that immediately strikes one as quite serene, wouldn't you say? Editor: Yes, it has a dreamy quality. The blurry edges soften everything, and the rosy hues throughout the canvas give a certain warmth. It feels intentionally posed but with an amateur approach to rendering its materials. Curator: Observe how the artist positions Elina within what seems to be a dense, perhaps even overwhelming, garden setting. Notice, also, the way Xeus employs color here; the greens and pinks fight against any immediate perspectival depth, collapsing the background into the figure. Editor: Right. And I'm wondering about the layers of paint – the visible brushstrokes give a sense of how this was built up. Look at how thickly the pink blossoms are applied versus the face, which has smoother layers of paint allowing subtle contours and shadows to render the subject. I am intrigued by how he mixed a clear modernism with the figuration through these applications and textures of the chosen medium. Curator: Precisely. There's an interesting tension between the modern impulse towards flatness and the classical portrait tradition, wouldn’t you say? The composition seems consciously constructed, highlighting formal elements while still attempting a kind of mimetic representation. This tension could mirror how contemporary life blends virtual personas and reality, making us contemplate artifice within authenticity. Editor: Thinking about labor here, how many studio hours are behind the piece? You see how quickly trends come and go, which places pressures on working artists to find gallery representation and stay in vogue. You could say, on one hand, that these are reflections of that reality: How is one to approach portraiture at this scale today, knowing all the history behind it and all of these social forces coming down at once? The artist might also feel forced to take from different forms and approaches that they respect in the tradition as well. Curator: Those considerations regarding labor and economics certainly contextualize our viewing of “Elina.” It invites speculation about contemporary portraiture's direction amid digital saturation, particularly on themes like memory, performance, or authenticity. Thank you for those added observations. Editor: Indeed. Thank you. Examining the painting up close revealed Xeus’ layered approach and offered compelling reflections about what portrait making even means right now for practicing painters.