Blue 

Curator: We're looking at "Blue" by Valentina Remenar, a mixed-media portrait showcasing elements of pop and naive art. Editor: My first impression is of cool serenity. The subject's closed eyes and the limited color palette create a really calming effect. Is that deliberate, do you think? Curator: The piece definitely draws on visual traditions. There's a deliberate connection forged through the title and prominent color choice with the socio-historical uses of blue to signify fidelity and trust, often used in works commissioned as symbols of state and in royal portraiture. Editor: The subject’s blue lips against the ornamental background seem significant, like an exaggerated detail. The patterns behind her seem floral and organic; the neck piece frames her in stylized vegetation, as though nature and ornament and her emotions all bleed together. Is the portrait intentionally idealized? Curator: This reminds us how much digital media today pulls from past traditions in unexpected ways. What Remenar does well is playing with recognizable iconography, in her blending the digital and handmade and in the way she engages the history of painted portraiture for new audiences, in some ways blurring the distinction of past and present. Editor: And those blues... electric. I find myself connecting that intensity of blue to contemporary symbols, particularly ones representing technology and the digital realm. Curator: You know, the blending of artistic styles and motifs could itself be read as a commentary on the accelerated nature of communication today and how different cultures blend with each other so much more rapidly than in the past. Editor: It leaves us contemplating both inner states and outer connections. So very serene... and yet, strangely electric, as I mentioned earlier. Curator: Absolutely, a work layered in its presentation of both itself and our perceptions of it.