Pool Party 2022

Zoe Hawk made this painting, Pool Party, sometime in the 20th century, using thin layers of paint to create a scene that’s both ordinary and strange. I love how the painting’s surface is smooth, almost like glass, which is funny when you think about the subject. The girls are all caught in their own little worlds: one leaps, another swims, another sits on the edge. It's like a stage set for a play about being a teenager. The colours are muted but cheerful. The cool turquoise and blues of the water contrasts with the muted colours of the flesh. The girl diving has this awkward energy, her arms spread wide like a kid playing aeroplane. It makes me think about Edward Hopper, another painter of isolated figures and a shared sense of melancholy. Hawk takes this further, with a kind of uncanny stillness that reminds us that art is always a space for questions, not answers.