Demon 1951

Eugene Brands made this painting, called 'Demon', with what looks like oil paint, judging by the fluidity of the marks. The colors are earthy – browns, blues, purples – but the demon itself has this ghostly, almost luminous quality. Looking closely, you can see how Brands has laid down these broad, confident strokes, especially in the demon's outline, that thick black line. It’s like he's wrestling with the image, pinning it down but also letting it breathe. The paint isn’t overworked, there’s a directness to it. It is as if it was made with a rag or maybe a big brush, giving the painting a real rawness and immediacy. The surface has these great areas of thick impasto, particularly in the purples. Brands reminds me a little of Asger Jorn, also part of the CoBrA group, with that same childlike energy and interest in myth and the irrational. Ultimately, this "Demon" reminds us that art is never really about answers, more about embracing the questions.