Papergirl 2020

This is Jason Limon’s "Papergirl", painted sometime in the 20th century, and it's got this wild color palette that feels both earthy and otherworldly. Look at how the browns and tans of the skull contrast with the almost candy-like pinks and reds of the girl’s dress. It's like Limon is mixing the real with the surreal, and that's what gets me going. The texture is key here, right? The girl’s face seems smooth, like porcelain, but then you see these deliberate tears and rips in the "paper," revealing the skull underneath. It’s not just about the shock value; it’s about the materiality of the paint itself. And that little skeleton pulling back the paper? That's a tiny, mischievous mark, that adds a whole layer of dark humor, like a gothic Beckett play. Limon reminds me a little of Mark Ryden, who also explores the unsettling intersection of cute and grotesque. It’s a conversation about how we deal with mortality and the masks we wear, both literally and figuratively.