Kid #2 2012

Carmen Delaco made this painting, Kid #2, with what looks like oil paint, but maybe pastel too, and it's all about how the colors almost aren't there, like a memory. I see a kid who’s all angles and softness, with these pale washes of pink, grey and fleshy tones making up the face, framed by this boxy grey shape. Look at the ear, how it’s dabbed in crimson, like a little explosion of feeling. I love how the paint is worked and reworked, with scratchy lines sitting next to soft blurry patches. It’s like the painting is thinking out loud, changing its mind as it goes, layering up marks, and leaving traces of what was there before. This way of building up the image, bit by bit, reminds me of the way Alice Neel would build up a portrait, not aiming for a perfect likeness, but something more raw and real. It's not about capturing a perfect image, it's about capturing something that’s always moving.