Snow White’s Defense 2021

Michael Cheval’s, Snow White’s Defense, is a fairytale scene built from oil paint on… something! Let’s just say, surface. Look at how the soft reds and greys of Snow White’s dress give way to the rough, dark textures of the figures in the background. He’s really playing with opacity here, isn’t he? The way the figures and branches blur into each other creates such a dense space. But then there’s Snow White. See the white folds of her dress? They’re sharp, clean, and catch the light in a way that pulls her forward, away from that murk. The contrast is really striking. It reminds me of the way Magritte would place ordinary objects in bizarre settings. Like him, Cheval’s work shows a fascination with dream-like imagery and the power of context to transform the familiar. Ultimately, paintings like this remind us that art is a conversation, a way of seeing and re-seeing the world around us.