Artificial Flowers with Daggers 1974

Ilka Gedo made this painting, Artificial Flowers with Daggers, with oil on canvas. I love the soft yellows, blues, and greens, and the way the dark lines scumble the surface. The painting feels like it came into being slowly, through layers and adjustments. There’s an openness, like Gedo wasn’t trying to force it. It feels honest, this world she’s creating. I wonder what she was thinking as she made it? The paint is thin, almost like a wash in places, and the canvas seems to soak up the color. And those dark, jagged lines – they remind me of Cy Twombly, but with a hidden edge. It’s like Gedo is showing us the beauty in things that are a little bit broken or strange. I can imagine her studio, the smell of oil paint, and the light just so, as she coaxes these images into being. Artists, we’re all in conversation, taking notes from each other, trying to make sense of the world. And painting, well, it’s just a way of feeling our way through the dark.