Backwards 2018

Thiago Boecan made this oil painting, 'Backwards,' and what strikes me is the earthy, almost dusty palette. It's not about bright colors but about muted tones and subtle shifts, really emphasizing the art-making as a process of layering and revealing. The texture in this piece is key; you can see the brushstrokes, the way the paint has been built up to create form. The skin isn't smooth, it's got this grit, this rawness that makes it feel so present. Look at the way the light catches the shoulder blades. It’s just beautiful! You can almost feel the tension in the figure. It reminds me of some early Lucian Freud, that same focus on the body, and the way paint can capture the weight of being. But where Freud can be quite visceral, Boecan has a tenderness, an openness to the ambiguous. There’s no single way to read it, and that’s what keeps me coming back.