Recover 2003

Raoul De Keyser's "Recover" is a painting made from simple gestures and a muted color palette. I imagine De Keyser standing back, squinting, maybe muttering to himself as he added a stroke, then another. What was he thinking when he placed those scattered dots and dashes on the canvas? I bet he was deeply in tune with the materiality of paint – how it drags, pools, and reflects light. The surface has this quiet, chalky quality. That horizontal band of pale green near the bottom – it's like a visual anchor, right? It sits in contrast to the ochre band near the top, connecting to the wider history of geometric abstraction. It makes me think about other painters like Agnes Martin, who also used such quiet restraint to convey so much. Ultimately, painting is a form of embodied expression. There's no single answer. It's more about the ongoing dialogue between the artist, the work, and us.