Silver Dagger Headdress 2018

Soey Milk made this striking painting, Silver Dagger Headdress. It's got these dominant dark shapes punctuated by floral elements, and the palette teeters between moody and vibrant. I can almost feel the artist at work, layering and shifting, figuring it out as she goes. I really feel for the painter here, imagining the decisions she had to make. That yellow disc in the headdress, for instance: is it a sun, a memory, or just a formal echo? The way those turquoise tassels hang – there’s a sense of gravity, but also lightness. I’m thinking about other painters here, too – maybe hints of Gustav Klimt's decorative opulence meeting some of the dark figuration of Alice Neel. Ultimately, painters are just magpies, borrowing and stealing and transforming. There’s no one "right" way to read a painting like this, and it's a beautiful testament to the ongoing conversation that is art.