Going My Way 2013

Greg Hildebrandt made this painting, Going My Way, at some point in his career, and the smooth blending of the colours gives the image a slick and polished feel. It’s like, where does the process end and the image begin? The way the light bounces off the figure's skin, and the sheen on the stockings – it's all so carefully rendered. Look at how the red of the wall behind her intensifies the drama and makes the figure pop. Then you have those stairs, alternating black and white, like a stage set. There’s a story in the detail of that rail, and the way the light falls on it, but you have to ask yourself what it is? Hildebrandt’s work, with its roots in illustration, reminds me of someone like Patrick Nagel, whose work also plays with that kind of idealized, heightened reality. But, ultimately, it’s not about answers, is it? It’s about the questions the painting makes us ask, the stories we imagine.