Aleijadinho Et Eius Proditores - Central Panel Right 2014

This panel by Paulo Tercio is alive with dark hues, punctuated by strokes of reddish-orange and glimpses of a figure emerging from the shadows. I can imagine Tercio building up layers of paint, scraping back, and then adding more, like a slow, deliberate dance. There’s a vulnerability here, a reaching out into the dark. I bet Tercio was thinking about the Old Masters, like Rembrandt, who also knew how to make darkness speak volumes. But there's also something very contemporary in Tercio's approach; a rawness and immediacy that feels deeply personal. See how the paint is thick in some areas, almost sculptural, and then thin and transparent in others? That contrast gives the painting a real sense of depth and movement. It’s like Tercio is inviting us to get lost in the process, to feel the push and pull of the paint, and to find our own meaning within its depths. It’s a conversation across time, a painter speaking to painters, and to us.