Louis XIV #7 2011

Alexander Roitburd made this painting of Louis XIV with oil on canvas and, wow, it’s like the king’s image is emerging from a dream, or maybe a nightmare. I can almost feel Roitburd wrestling with the paint, trying to capture not just a likeness, but the essence of power, or maybe the illusion of it. The colors are intense, clashing, yet somehow harmonious. Look at how the black background makes the figure pop, like a burst of energy. I bet Roitburd was thinking about history, about representation, and about how we see and understand the figures of the past. There's something almost punk about the way he's taken this iconic image and twisted it, challenged it. It reminds me of other artists who play with historical imagery, like Gerhard Richter, but with a distinctly Roitburd twist. It’s like he’s saying, “Here’s Louis XIV, but also here’s what I think about Louis XIV, and about painting itself.” And that’s what makes art so exciting - this ongoing conversation across time, each artist responding to and inspiring the next.