Prehistoric Figure 1980

Charles Garabedian painted this Prehistoric Figure with what looks like acrylic on canvas, and the colours are all high-key. Everything's so bright, it almost feels lit from within. Garabedian's colours here are like emotional weather. Look how the pink of the figure is like a fever dream, flushed against that almost cartoonish blue sky. The paint's not trying to hide anything. You can see every stroke, every decision, laid bare. The rawness makes it feel ancient and immediate all at once. And that figure, arching back, reaching. The bones at the bottom - are they the same figure, or is she reaching to some kind of afterlife? Garabedian reminds me of Guston, in that they are both very direct, playful and humorous. Both artists were never afraid to let a painting be awkward. Which shows how art's just a big conversation, everyone riffing off each other, trying to make sense of the world.