Shades of Blue 2021

Curator: Daria Theodora's 2021 watercolor painting, "Shades of Blue," immediately evokes a sense of delicate fantasy. What's your first impression? Editor: Melancholy, certainly. There's a definite Pre-Raphaelite, romantic quality, that makes you wonder about the sitter's role in this fantastical narrative and where we should put our focus. The flowing lines also soften any crisp edges; what can you tell me about the material elements? Curator: Theodora employs watercolors, which inherently speak to fragility. The visible brushstrokes and washes suggest a labor-intensive process—layer upon layer of pigment to build the atmospheric blue that dominates the piece. The choice of watercolor, instead of something like oils or acrylics, hints at a conscious rejection of modern modes of mass production in favor of traditional artisanal practice, a deliberate connection to the Arts and Crafts movement’s focus on the handmade. The support here, most likely paper, would also bring costs down, compared with something like canvas, hinting at the artist's working conditions. Editor: Thinking about context, that pre-Raphaelite romanticism evokes a longing for some ideal past that usually forgets many historical realities of access and visibility. Look at the solitary female figure draped in blue. Is she in mourning? Is she escaping something, as symbolized by those dark figures that dance around her? There's a kind of insularity; consider how she's framed by the dark moon and surrounding branches in an act of separation from what might be going on in the surrounding world. And even though we see it, the presence of that large veil evokes that it is, nonetheless, partially shielding us from fully accessing the emotions or intent of this subject. It reminds us that while her experiences may be unique to her social position, all experiences are fundamentally distinct and colored by individuality. Curator: That’s a sharp reading of her interiority and isolation. The patterning on her blue veil almost suggests lace, a commercially manufactured material, even if here it has been meticulously rendered. Considering her elegant dress, you start to wonder if those decorative figures might even reference shadow selves or internal struggles rather than simply decorative details. Editor: Right, so much is left unanswered! Still, these aesthetic considerations alongside sociopolitical angles give you different entry points into experiencing the artwork’s impact. Curator: Precisely, analyzing process and form gives access to the concepts being engaged.