Self-Portrait 1917

George Bouzianis painted this self-portrait with oils on canvas, though its date is unknown. The colours in this piece are working overtime. You have areas of light against dark, areas where the paint is really built up and areas where it’s thinned out to almost nothing. I’m immediately drawn to the hands and how Bouzianis has left them a little unresolved, a little awkward. The same goes for the shirt, which seems to have a sort of chaotic energy. By drawing our attention to these areas he sets up a visual rhythm, where the eye is constantly moving between areas of definition and uncertainty. It makes me wonder what he was thinking about while making this painting. You see the legacy of someone like Manet in this piece, a similar interest in the materiality of paint itself. Ultimately though, it's very much his own thing, a painting that holds onto its secrets while giving us just enough to keep us looking.