Book Island – That’s Nice Love 2022

Owen Gent's ‘Book Island – That’s Nice Love’ has this wonderful sense of playful chaos, made with what looks like gouache or maybe even thinned oils, where the materiality really shines through. The surface has a kind of gritty texture that makes you think about the hand of the artist and how it was made. It’s like Gent lets the medium lead, with thin washes of color layered to create depth, but you still sense a connection to the real world through a personal, embodied experience. I'm particularly drawn to the orangey figure whose limb crosses over the leg of the figure in white. The palette is so vibrant and creates this dialogue between warm and cool tones. It reminds me of Matisse’s cut-outs, where color and form dance together in a joyful, yet carefully orchestrated composition. With both artists, there’s no one right way to see it – and that's the beauty of art, right?