Propinquity 2014

Soey Milk’s *Propinquity* seems to have emerged through patient hatching and layering of graphite and watercolour. I can imagine her building up this vision of a woman in a mask, line by line, stain by stain. There’s something both vulnerable and confrontational about this figure. That mask, the fox mask, is such a striking element, and the pose is one of concealment and revelation. I wonder what Milk was thinking about as she constructed this image? Was she playing with ideas of identity, desire, or perhaps the subconscious? The way she’s used watercolour washes in the background creates a dreamy atmosphere. I really appreciate Milk’s sense of experimentation here. Like the work of other contemporary figurative painters, *Propinquity* really offers an interesting dialogue between traditional techniques and contemporary themes. Ultimately, art is a conversation, right?