Figure 1951

Yiannis Moralis captured this figure with paint on canvas, it’s hard to say when exactly. The surface feels like a calm pool of blues, browns and blacks. I can imagine Moralis starting with that blue background, a field of potential. Then the figure emerges, almost reluctantly. Her black dress is a shadow, a solid block against the shimmering blue, like a dark thought interrupting a daydream. I wonder what Moralis was thinking about as he worked. Was he trying to capture her likeness, or something more? The paint is applied so simply, almost casually, yet it conveys a real sense of presence. Her pale, bare feet planted on the floor make me think of the ancient Greeks. There is a kind of back and forth between seeing and feeling. And the painting itself becomes a record of that exchange. Artists are always in conversation with each other, across time and space, riffing on each other’s ideas. It’s not about answers, but more about keeping the questions alive.