DER FELSENWIRT 2014

Neo Rauch made this painting, Der Felsenwirt, using a muted palette and what looks like quite a dry brush. The process feels very exposed; he isn't trying to trick us into believing this is anything other than a painting, and this honesty is something I really value in art. Looking closely at the pinks he's used, they are acidic but subdued, and they give the painting a strange feeling, a bit like when something is both beautiful and unsettling. The large figure on the right, for example, is rendered with these pinks in a way that makes him appear both strong and vulnerable, almost like a ghost in the machine. The way the colours interact with each other creates a push-pull effect, a tension that keeps the eye moving and engaged. Rauch's work reminds me of early Philip Guston, but with a melancholic, German twist. Like Guston, he embraces a kind of awkwardness, allowing his figures and forms to be a little clumsy, a little off. It's this imperfection that makes the painting so compelling.