Melissa 2013

Robert McGinnis conjured 'Melissa' with gentle washes and careful strokes. You can almost feel the brush dancing across the paper, layering those soft pinks and creams to bring her into being. I wonder what McGinnis was thinking as he painted her. Maybe he was lost in the subtle shifts of light across her skin, or caught up in the delicate balance between realism and something more idealized. It reminds me of the way Alex Katz captures a mood with such simple elegance. The texture here is so smooth, so light, it feels like the paint barely kisses the surface. Look at the way he's handled the shadows around her legs – it's like they're breathing, full of warmth and mystery. It’s all part of this ongoing conversation artists have, across time and space, inspiring each other to see the world in new ways. Painting is such an embodied expression, embracing ambiguity and uncertainty, letting us find our own meanings in the mix.