The veil 2021

Martine Johanna made this painting, The Veil, sometime in the 20th or 21st century, using oils to build up an image of a woman’s face, partially obscured by a semi-transparent curtain. The paint handling here is so smooth, almost like airbrushing. It’s all about blending and layering, to create this luminous, soft-focus effect. The colors are muted, but there are still vibrant moments, like the almost neon-red around her neck, that peek through. I find myself drawn to the veil itself, the way it both reveals and conceals, acting as a kind of filter, distorting the features behind. It’s like the artist is asking us to consider how we see, and what we choose to see. This painting reminds me a little of the work of Marlene Dumas, another artist who uses the female figure to explore ideas about identity, representation, and the act of looking. Art’s a conversation, right?