Bulto 1935 - 1942

This watercolor painting depicts a Bulto, or a religious sculpture, by an unknown artist. It’s made up of transparent washes of color—blues, reds, yellows, and grays. It’s as though the artist took pleasure in painting this object, carefully delineating the lines of the carrying case, and all its little details. It feels descriptive, a cataloguing of form in a playful spirit. I wonder if they felt a sense of reverence towards the sculpture inside. The transparency of the watercolor gives the bulto a ghostly quality, as if it’s fading away. It reminds me of other artists who explore the boundaries between representation and abstraction, like Fairfield Porter or even some of Alex Katz's landscapes. All art exists in a kind of visual conversation, don’t you think? I often feel like I’m in dialogue with other artists across time. I learn so much from the practice of painting; it opens up new ways of seeing and thinking, and it's deeply fulfilling.