Partisan 2002

Curator: Bo Bartlett's 2002 oil painting, "Partisan," is an interesting example of contemporary figurative work. There’s a strong sense of realism here. What strikes you initially? Editor: It's strikingly serene. The cool tones and the smooth finish of the paint lend this portrait a calm, almost contemplative aura. Her gaze into the distance contributes to the effect. Curator: Let's consider the materiality of this painting. Bartlett is working within a very specific tradition using oil on canvas. These materials come with centuries of artistic baggage, a weight of art history if you will. How do you see him engaging with or perhaps challenging that legacy through this piece? I mean, “Partisan”, it is a very loaded term. Editor: It is true. I read the composition as classically academic. The muted palette, the careful modeling of the light, and the subject’s composed expression all suggest an artist deeply versed in the traditional methods. However, that simple headscarf hints at a potential political allegiance which might make it something else. Curator: Precisely. What do we know about the availability and production of that headscarf? Can it hint us towards social and economic context? Editor: We need more to draw those types of conclusions. Visually, I read the headscarf simply as an anchor for the portrait— a way to frame the face and lead the eye upward. Without it, the whole composition may fall flat. Curator: But this calm expression in conjunction with the title— that's not a contradiction in terms of the painting itself? Are we seeing, in this “Partisan," the everyday resistance in what is essentially domestic imagery? Editor: The formal structure contains that possible defiance in its balance of colour, composition, and light, all combining for that serenity. Curator: Interesting. Considering his choice of medium and the way it’s made, the "partisan" in question may extend beyond any potential contemporary political cause, including to painting itself! Editor: So the painting, through its classic form, becomes an act of...rebellion, potentially. That could open some nice, subversive pathways!