Shannon 2020

Monica Ikegwu, born in 1998, painted Shannon, and it’s like stepping into a world of blues. There’s this vibrant, almost hyper-real quality, and the color feels like it's breathing. You know, I can almost feel Monica teasing out the details, how each fold of that draped fabric was a new discovery. What did she make of it? What did she learn? Painting is a deep dive, and I bet she was thinking about how the play of light shifts across the surface, how the folds create these little pockets of shadow. It’s not just about replicating what’s there, but about understanding the way light defines form. Then there's the flat plane of colour that comes up to meet the folds. That tonal shift is where the painting takes off, and where the viewer comes to life. The way she captures the expression in Shannon’s eyes, there’s this quiet strength, and I’m sure other artists have been captivated by the same thing across time. It’s that conversation between artists that keeps things interesting.