Aftermath 2021

Anne Neely made this painting, Aftermath, at an unknown date, using some form of paint on canvas. It’s all about the surface for me in this painting, the way Neely's got these translucent washes drifting down the canvas, kind of like watercolor but not. I see these ghostly layers, like memories fading or a landscape dissolving in front of your eyes. At the bottom, that dark horizon line almost looks like a child's drawing of some houses, or maybe the jagged edge of something broken. Then there's that splattering of red dots up on the right, like someone flicked a brush. They're so alive, almost like the painting is breathing. This use of layering and dripping to create depth and atmosphere reminds me of Gerhard Richter’s abstract paintings. What I love most is that it's not about a fixed image, but about how seeing itself is a process, a constant state of becoming.