At Leisure 1922

Alice Bailly made this oil painting called ‘At Leisure’, and it's like looking into a daydream, right? The colors are muted, mostly browns, blues and creams, but everything is outlined with these strong strokes, giving it a real graphic punch. Looking at the surface, you can see the canvas is raw in places. It’s almost like she started painting and then thought, “Nah, I kinda like it like this.” See how she’s left the gestural marks visible? The brushstrokes are raw and the paint is applied thinly, allowing the texture of the canvas to peek through. Take a look at the lower right, at the dog, the marks there are so loose. Then scan your eyes up and you will see that the way she layered the paint, kinda haphazardly, creates a feeling of depth, but also of things being slightly ‘off’. It reminds me a bit of the early Fauvist paintings, like Matisse, but with a touch of something more personal. Bailly isn't trying to be perfect; she's capturing a feeling, an idea. And for me, that's what art's all about – those messy, unresolved moments.