Head 1936

This is Pablo Picasso's 'Head', sketched using pencil on paper. The image came into being in the process of drawing, as a shifting, emerging thing of intuition and feeling. I sympathize with Picasso here, trying to imagine what it might have been like to create such a piece. What might he have been thinking when he made it? The head is built up of horizontal lines, the contour creating something of a topographical map. A particular gesture, a sweeping stroke, communicates the shape of the hair, its feeling and intention being clearly transmitted. These shapes are alive, organic even – the head balanced upon the trunk in a gently asymmetrical fashion. It reminds me of other artists who work with the portrait such as Alice Neel. Artists are in an ongoing conversation, an exchange of ideas across time, inspiring one another's creativity. Painting is a form of embodied expression which embraces ambiguity and uncertainty, allowing for multiple interpretations.