The Miracle 2005

Horia Damian created ‘The Miracle’ with expressive brushstrokes and a striking color palette, a dance of pinks, whites, and flesh tones. I imagine him layering the paint, building up the form through trial, a push and pull between intention and accident. There is a sense of physicality, both in the subject matter and the making of the work. Look at how Damian uses those vertical marks on the legs, almost like he's trying to make a sculpture out of paint. It is like he is asking, how do you make a body? What does it mean to represent it? And how can painting do that? This piece seems to speak to a lineage of artists exploring the human form, from the Renaissance masters to contemporary painters grappling with representation. Each generation enters into a conversation with those who came before, interpreting and reinventing the traditions of painting. It is an embodied expression, full of ambiguity.