Sem título 1990

Menez made this painting with what looks like oil or maybe tempera, creating an outdoor scene with figures set against an abstract background of geometric forms and a stormy sky. I imagine Menez, working intuitively, almost letting the forms emerge from the act of painting itself. The paint is applied in thin layers, almost translucent in places, which gives the whole composition an airy, dreamlike quality. I love the way the figures seem to float in the space, unbound by gravity, each lost in their own world. The contrast between the classical figures and the modern abstraction is interesting. Maybe Menez was thinking about the enduring nature of human experience, or even the tension between tradition and progress? It reminds me of De Chirico, with the odd, eerie mood. Artists are always having a conversation, aren't they? Painting is not about answers, but about opening up a space for questioning, uncertainty, and possibility.