Portrait of a man 1969

Here we see Nikos Nikolaou’s ‘Portrait of a Man’, created with visible brushstrokes of muted hues. I’m struck by how the gray and brown tones might initially appear somber, but if you look closer, they create a lively and engaging composition. I can imagine Nikolaou stepping back, squinting, and then leaning in again, responding to what's already there, the push and pull of applying and subtracting paint. I wonder, did he build up the layers slowly or did he go at it with a single-minded focus, trying to capture the essence of the sitter in one go? It reminds me of some of Philip Guston's later paintings, where he was equally interested in the painting as a surface, as he was in the subject he was painting. See that dark swoop of paint that defines the sitter’s jacket? It’s both a description of form and also just a juicy mark that sings out from the surface. I think artists like Nikolaou and Guston, are reminding us that painting is a conversation.