mother! Him 2017

James Jean made 'mother! Him' by layering colour and symbolism to create this arresting image. You can see how the red background pulses and writhes like flames, creating a visual process that mirrors the psychological turmoil of the film it references. Look at how the paint is applied thinly, almost like watercolour, which gives a hallucinatory quality. The colour choices aren't naturalistic but emotionally heightened; the man’s skin is greyed, drained of life against the fiery backdrop. Notice the flames licking around his form, rendered with delicate, precise brushwork. A strange ball is being offered by the figure, small and innocuous against the red background that suggests violence and destruction. It has some of the graphic intensity of early Chris Ofili, or maybe Peter Doig. Like them, Jean embraces ambiguity. Is this a portrait of despair, a meditation on destruction, or something else entirely? The beauty of art is that it doesn't tell us what to think, but invites us to feel.