Direct Line to Heaven 2015

Editor: So, we're looking at "Direct Line to Heaven" by Michael Hafftka, from 2015, rendered in oil paint. The frenetic energy, that central figure perched precariously, I can't help but feel it's a meditation on fragility. What stands out to you? Curator: Fragility, absolutely! But perhaps it's more like the beauty *within* the fragile. Look at the wild brushstrokes; they're practically shouting. See that exposed heart, rendered in such stark red? For me, it's about raw vulnerability, a sort of spiritual unburdening. Like ripping open your ribcage to let the light in. Editor: So, it’s less about weakness and more about… courageous exposure? Is that almost like an Expressionist mode of conveying emotion? Curator: Exactly! Hafftka throws us headfirst into the emotive. Forget polite portraiture, this is the portrait of a soul yearning, seeking some higher connection – that "Direct Line," maybe a visual prayer line strung up to the cosmos by this modern-day mystic. Don’t you feel that longing too? That desperate wish for… *something more*? Editor: I think I do, yeah. And, tell me if I'm off base, but the whirling circle beneath the figure feels a little like an ouroboros? A serpent eating its own tail representing cycles or constant return. Is that at all what the circle evokes for you? Curator: That's astute! It sings to the cyclical nature of existence. We shed layers, reinvent, suffer, grow... perhaps the only "direct line" is that ever-repeating dance of being. Wonderful thought. Thank you! Editor: Thanks! This has really made me rethink the power of expressive brushwork, how much feeling can be imbued. Curator: Me too, what I thought would just be a fun art experience turned into a really profound personal journey of introspection. Funny how art does that, right?