The Killing Game 1960

Desmond Morris made this surreal painting called 'The Killing Game', and I can only imagine the questions and possibilities that went through his mind as he was trying to figure it out on the canvas. The figures! They’re somewhere between human and insect-like, all spindly legs and jaunty angles, moving across a strange landscape. The surface is scrubby, like it’s been layered and scraped back, built up with all these mossy greens and earthy browns. It makes me think of Miro. I like to imagine Morris was grappling with something big here - conflict and destruction. It's like a weird dreamscape of the subconscious, where the rules are bent, and the symbols are deeply personal. But that’s what painting is, right? It’s trying to make sense of something, and then leaving enough space for the rest of us to join the conversation.