With Grapes 2006

Vlada Ralko made this painting, "With Grapes," and you can almost feel her working through something, stroke by stroke, dab by dab. The fleshy pinks and greens are pulled and pushed, like clay being molded. The more I look, the more I see how Ralko lets the paint itself do the work. The green background vibrates against the darker greens of the grapes, creating a kind of optical push-pull. I imagine her thinking about the old masters, maybe even Cezanne's still lifes, but wanting to get messier, more visceral. The painting feels unresolved, like a question mark hanging in the air. And in that sense, it's an offering. It reminds me that painting is a conversation, artists talking to each other across time, picking up where someone else left off. It is an ongoing process of inquiry.