The Seer 2017

Jana Brike painted this portrait of a girl surrounded by flowers and butterflies, sometime after 1980, in what looks like oil. Looking at the painting, I get the sense that it came into being slowly, evolving intuitively. I can imagine the artist thinking about childhood, fairytales, a girl’s inner dreams and fears. The girl is peering out at us through a veil of small daisies and forget-me-nots, butterflies too. The paint is applied in a way that’s very realistic in some parts, yet in others, such as the tiny hearts and a crawling caterpillar on the girl’s face, it creates a surreal effect. The red lips are like a slash of color that stand out amidst the pastel flowers. I think that the history of painting is an ongoing conversation between artists across time. We all inspire each other in cycles of influence. And in the end, painting offers a way to embrace ambiguity, so that it means something different to each person who sees it.