Sukirah 1977

Felix Labisse painted 'Sukirah', and it's pretty striking, this smooth-surfaced woman with skin of blue. What was Labisse thinking when he made this? Did he plan that her hair would gleam like wet tar? Or was it a happy accident when the brush hit the canvas? I love how the blue of her skin almost matches the sky behind her. I bet he mixed ultramarine with a bit of white to get that shade. It reminds me of a lot of surrealist painting, artists are always having conversations with each other and making up their own visual language. Painting is a funny thing, because it embraces ambiguity. There’s no right or wrong way to see it. It’s all up for grabs, you know? And that's what makes it so exciting.