What to Remember 2018

Vincent Xeus made this blue-hued painting, What to Remember, with brushes dragging and stroking through the wet paint. You can almost feel him working, figuring it out as he goes, right? The painting has an uncanny quality to it, like a memory resurfacing in pieces. I’m curious about that bold white diagonal slash across the figure; it feels kind of defiant. The title asks us what to remember, but I'm also wondering what the artist is trying to forget or obscure. Think about the act of painting itself—adding, subtracting, covering, and revealing. What stays, what goes? It's like a conversation between the artist and the canvas, a dance of intention and chance. This feels connected to a lot of figurative painting being made right now that isn't about perfect representation, but more about what’s revealed through the materiality of paint. Artists are in an ongoing conversation, inspiring creativity, and embracing ambiguity, and I think that's beautiful.