Coat c. 1940

Hal Blakeley made this painting of a coat, but it is undated and the medium unspecified. What jumps out is the turquoise hue and the light lines of embellishment on the coat. The application of colour seems straightforward, yet when you look closely at the sleeves, it is anything but. There’s an interplay of tones; darker and lighter blues, that capture the way light would sit on this velvet-looking garment. It seems as though the image-making process was not about pure depiction, but about feeling the form through the paint. The white flourishes on the back of the coat are what give the image a folk-art feel, a naivety, or perhaps a sense of humour! It has echoes of Elizabeth Murray’s paintings of clothes and shoes, which also seem to capture the feeling, and sometimes the absurdity, of everyday life. Ultimately, this painting reminds us that art isn't about fixed meanings, but about the unfolding of seeing, thinking, and feeling.