Masked Ceremony 2010

Twins Seven Seven made this incredible painting, Masked Ceremony, using vibrant lines of ink and dye. Imagine him crouched over this piece, turning the work, feeling the surface, patiently filling the figures with colour, making it come alive. The picture plane is crammed with bodies, masks, faces, limbs and other decorative details. The longer I look at this painting, the more I sympathize with Twins Seven Seven as he works. I feel like I know his visual world, and I get what he’s trying to express. You can see it in the patterned fabric, the bulging eyes, the up-turned mouths. I like to think of artists as being in conversation, and Twins Seven Seven’s work is full of voices. It’s as if his hand is dancing and singing at the same time! Like all great works of art, Masked Ceremony is filled with ambiguity. There is no single meaning, and this uncertainty is what makes it so compelling.