Hide and Seek 

Curator: I find Michael Cheval’s “Hide and Seek” immediately intriguing. It strikes me as a dreamlike composition, with soft gradients and bizarre juxtapositions creating an atmosphere of quiet unreality. Editor: The staging of this work speaks volumes about the masquerades and the veils that individuals erect when societal power structures are brought into play. The doll-like woman sitting on what looks to be other people’s legs forces a confrontation of these complex topics, specifically with historical performativity in mind. Curator: Indeed. Observe how the artist deploys a fairly restricted palette of muted reds, yellows, and creams, which serves to unify the various planes within the composition. Note how these colors are picked up both in the foreground details like the bows on the woman’s shoes, the costume of the foreground subjects, and in the hazy figures in the painting's background. Editor: The use of Venetian figures really places this work into a very specific cultural context—the historical and class dimensions of performance are key here, particularly the tradition of Carnival and how the wealthy engaged with the working classes through disguises and theatrical display, and that still exists today. The costuming references and plays upon these old figures, while the "game" of "Hide and Seek" alludes to larger concepts of who gets seen, and who remains hidden. Curator: Do you feel this "game" is perhaps also reinforced by the interplay between clarity and ambiguity in the painting’s execution? I find the figures rendered with an almost hyperrealistic precision. The contrast is significant, don't you agree? Editor: Yes, I do! The figures serve to solidify a specific, though fantastic narrative in juxtaposition with the clarity of the "player's". These elements create a visual language which brings questions of power, gaze, and marginalization into the art space and asks us as viewers to grapple with its uncomfortable implications. Curator: Cheval's technical command is undeniable. It offers a fascinating study in perspective and compositional arrangement, and its quiet mystery lingers long after the initial viewing. Editor: This work invites us to analyze not just its form, but also the ways it encourages a broader dialogue about social hierarchies that have deep historical roots. A beautiful provocation indeed.