Accrescendo 2021

Michael Cheval painted this surreal scene, Accrescendo, with oils on canvas. Just imagine him in the studio, wrestling with this image, how has it come into being, shifting and emerging through trial, error, and intuition? I can sympathize with the artist here, I'm often thinking about process, especially the material aspects of painting, like texture and color and surface. Cheval’s paint looks super smooth, almost polished, doesn’t it? Look at the musician, the way her orange skirt spills onto the beach. It’s as if she is attached to the cello, or it has become a part of her. I like that. Like so much painting, this piece is about connections: between people, objects, and places. It’s like the artist is saying that everything is in dialogue. I think that’s true, artists are always in an ongoing conversation, inspiring one another’s creativity.