First Phase of the Birth of Eroticism Coming from An Unknown Thorn 1996

This picture, "First Phase of the Birth of Eroticism Coming from An Unknown Thorn", was made in 1996 by Lubo Kristek. It's all dreamy blues and purples, like looking through water, and the painting feels like it came into being slowly, with layers of trial and error. I can almost feel Kristek reaching for something new here, something that hasn’t quite formed yet. There's this hand, pale and reaching, and then this figure bound to a cross, which feels like a gesture of surrender, or maybe transformation? It's like a moment captured mid-thought. There's an ongoing conversation happening between artists across time. Every gesture, every color choice builds on what's come before. Kristek is showing us painting as an embodied expression. It's about embracing ambiguity, allowing for multiple readings. It's not about having all the answers.