Thoughts to Make Love to and Sleep With 2019

Soey Milk made this dreamy painting, using oil on canvas. It's a hazy portrait, and the colours are rich and moody, mostly burgundy and lavender, but then a bright emerald green and a glittery gold. I love the way she uses the paint – thick in some places, almost like icing, and then thin and washy in others, creating a push and pull on the surface. I imagine her working on this, starting with a realistic portrait, then layering these crazy abstract shapes and patterns over the top, as if the figure is emerging from a dream. The figure looks like she's pondering something in a state of reverie, her hands gently touching her face. The painting feels like it's about the fleeting, elusive quality of thoughts and feelings. I'm reminded of other painters who mix representation and abstraction like Marlene Dumas or Cecily Brown. Painters are always in conversation with each other, reaching across time and space, inspiring new ways of seeing and feeling. Isn’t painting just the best?