Mascarados de Pirenópolis XIV 1987

Julio Pomar made this painting, Mascarados de Pirenópolis XIV, with strokes of fiery reds and oranges, contrasted with playful daubs of violet, blue, and green. I like to imagine Pomar in his studio, pushing the paint around, layering it, letting shapes emerge from the chaos. Those masks floating in the space - what are they thinking, what are they seeing? I feel a connection to the artist, imagining him juggling the composition, feeling the tension between control and letting go. Painting, for me, is so much about that dance. Look at how the paint is applied – thin washes in some areas, thick impasto in others. The surface becomes a record of his process, his decisions, his hesitations. The confident strokes, the tentative dabs – it all adds up to a feeling. I feel like he's in conversation with other painters - a shared language that transcends time and place. It reminds me that painting is, at its heart, an act of embodied expression.