Question 1994

Ramon Oviedo made this painting called "Question" with oil paint, likely over many sessions, as the forms seem to emerge from layers of translucent color. It's like he’s asking, what does it mean to be human? What does it mean to be an animal? Is there really a difference? I can imagine him mixing up these deep blues and reds, and finding this minotaur form almost by accident. Look at that figure in the upper left corner, almost like a ghost floating. It's hard to tell what to make of it, but Oviedo doesn’t seem to care. The paint is smooth, brushed in thin layers, which allows the forms to shift and blur. Oviedo must have kept at it, adjusting, maybe losing the thread and finding it again, until this strange image finally revealed itself. Painters are always talking to each other, across time and space, and this feels like a raw, vulnerable statement. It feels very much like a question...