Blue Riders 2006

Chris Ofili's "Blue Riders" is an artwork brought to life with watery blue pigment on paper, full of evocative imagery. The painting seems to have come together quickly, intuitively, with one brushstroke informing the next, like a jazz improvisation. I'm trying to imagine Ofili in the act of making this. Maybe he's thinking about the history of painting, about German Expressionism and the original Blue Rider group, but filtering it through his own unique lens. Look at how the blue seeps into the paper, creating these ghostly figures on horseback. The paint is thin, almost translucent, which gives the whole image a dreamlike quality. It feels like a memory, a half-remembered story. That raised scythe—such a strong gesture. Is it menacing or celebratory? The genius of painting is that it doesn't have to be just one thing. It can hold multiple possibilities at once. This is how artists engage in an ongoing conversation. They're all trying to capture something elusive, something that can't be put into words.