Flower Piece I 1994

This is Richard Hamilton's 'Flower Piece I', and the brushwork is a real dance of blushy pinks and greens, like the painting itself bloomed into being. I can imagine Hamilton, maybe with a half-smile, building up this image, one layer informing the next. See how the paint is thin and washy, letting the white of the paper breathe through? It gives everything a light, transient feel. The way he renders the flowers with these quick flicks of the brush, well, it's like he's capturing their essence more than their exact form. It's about gesture, right? That mark-making is where the feeling hides, and it reminds me of some of Bonnard’s more casual paintings. These artists are totally in conversation, across decades, across canvases. Ultimately, painting’s about embracing the messy, the unresolved. It’s about that push-and-pull between what you intend and what emerges. It's not about answers, but about keeping the conversation going.