Involution 2019

Thiago Boecan’s "Involution" is a 50 x 80 cm oil painting, and just look at the juicy marks that build the figure, painted with a fleshy, limited palette. I can imagine Thiago, brush in hand, coaxing the form out of the ground. The rose-tinted strokes feel both tentative and assertive as if he were searching for the essence of this posture. The paint is applied with visible brushstrokes, giving the surface a tactile quality. You can almost feel the weight and density of the figure. There's a vulnerability in the way the body is rendered, an invitation to contemplate themes of introspection, perhaps even a sense of being overwhelmed. The artist teases out these feelings, and invites us to consider the many artists who have contemplated the body as a site of emotional expression – Rodin, Schiele, Auerbach. Painting is a conversation, you know? We stand on the shoulders of giants, responding to what has come before, adding our own voice to the chorus.