Untitled Self Portrait 2019

Monica Ikegwu, born in 1998, made this untitled self-portrait with a very controlled palette and what looks like a real attention to the movement of the brush, to process. There's something about the way she's handled the paint here that gets under my skin. The way the paint sits on the surface, it's not trying to be anything other than what it is. In particular I'm drawn to the texture of the patterned background. She’s created a subtle but noticeable relief; those layered leaves are almost popping off the canvas. There’s a kind of quiet conversation happening between the flat, patterned background and the more modeled, volumetric rendering of her face. It reminds me a bit of the way that Alice Neel would build up her portraits with layers of color and line. There's a real sense of curiosity, a willingness to see where the paint will take you. And that's what makes art so endlessly fascinating, right?