Butchered Ox 1941

Bruno Cassinari made this painting, Butchered Ox, with oils, likely in the mid-20th century, and what strikes me is the fleshy palette he's chosen. Pinks and reds, certainly, but also these muddy browns and greens that seem to push against the subject, grounding it in the real. It’s interesting, isn't it, how the physical qualities of paint can echo what's depicted? Take the lower left corner, there’s these thick, sculptural strokes, kind of clotted and gloppy, that mimic the texture of raw meat, but also somehow look like offal on a butcher's floor. There's a real tactile quality to the whole painting, Cassinari seems to be influenced by artists like Soutine, where the paint becomes almost like a stand-in for the thing itself. Art’s not about answers, it’s about this ongoing conversation, a push and pull between what we see, what we feel, and what the artist throws into the mix.