Freckles 2014

Bernadette Resha made 'Freckles,' a small, yellow, oil painting, sometime after 1989. The lily petals burst out to fill the composition, and those spots, or 'freckles,' are also tiny explosions of paint. The texture is smooth; Resha seems to have enjoyed pushing the paint around, coaxing it into the shape of the flower. The surface has the shine of oil paint, but the marks are precise and controlled. I love how the freckles feel both random and perfectly placed, like stars in the sky. Look at how each petal catches a different kind of light, how those yellow-greens shift and change, the whole image feels like a celebration of color. You might think of Georgia O’Keeffe here. Like O’Keeffe, Resha transforms a simple flower into a universe of feeling. Art’s a conversation across time, and it’s always open to new voices.