Wallflower 2021

Michael Cheval made this surreal painting, Wallflower, using oil paint. The background is an intricate pattern that looks like it was built up from lots of thin layers. The process feels almost obsessive, like a beautiful kind of counting or cataloging. There’s so much happening on the surface. Look at that background, the way the gold paint seems to float, and the little dots of turquoise and pink peeking through. Then there's the girl, rendered in smooth, creamy tones, a little melancholic, and the hedgehog. It’s so strange how he combines this very traditional figurative style with such a wildly patterned ground. And the blue outlines around her hair; it all adds up to a kind of dream logic. It reminds me a bit of Remedios Varo, who also painted these surreal scenes with a really refined technique. Both artists create this kind of parallel reality, where things are both familiar and utterly strange. Ultimately, it's a painting that leaves you with more questions than answers, and that’s why it sticks with you.