Willful Oblivion 2018

This is Rose Freymuth-Frazier’s painting, Willful Oblivion, and I can imagine her at work. The whole scene is painted in soft hues, with a lovely floral backdrop. You see the model looking out through pink sunglasses. They create a kind of barrier, filtering her view. I can imagine Rose working on this, layering the paint to build up the colors and textures, maybe stepping back and squinting to see how the tones worked together. There's something about the direct gaze of the subject that feels very intimate. It's like she's inviting you into her world, but at the same time, she's keeping you at a distance with those glasses. The treatment of the surface is also interesting. The paint is applied in thin layers, allowing the texture of the canvas to show through in places. I see the influence of painters like Alice Neel, in the way Rose captures the personality of her subject, and maybe also some Marlene Dumas, in the psychological intensity of the portrait. There is something very human about that. Painting allows for the layering of ideas in a single frame, inviting endless interpretation.