Santo 1936

Maude Valle made this piece, Santo, and it looks like she was thinking about the process as much as the image. The color palette is subdued and earthy, but the way she's layered the paint, it's like she's building up the image, one stroke at a time. I see the brushstrokes, the texture, and the sheer physicality of the paint itself. Look at the way she's handled the red oval, framing the figures. It's almost sculptural, like she's carving the image out of the surface. It reminds me that art isn't just about what you see, but about the act of making, the gestures, and the decisions that go into it. It makes me think of Marsden Hartley, another artist who embraced a kind of rough-hewn, heartfelt approach to painting, where the process is as important as the final result. Art is always a conversation, an exchange of ideas across time. It's okay if there's no one right answer, if the meaning shifts and changes depending on who's looking.