Misgiven Thought 2019

Michael Cheval's painting is a real mind-bender, with its surreal imagery and meticulous detail. Just imagine the patience and precision it must have taken to create this dreamlike vision. The subdued, earthy tones create this strange atmosphere. The woman has an enormous dress, a landscape of ladders, with a tiny figure at the bottom, struggling to climb. I bet Cheval was thinking about power dynamics, and the weight of expectations, while layering the paint, glazing, and building up the image bit by bit. It feels like he's inviting us to question what's real, what's imagined, and how we navigate the spaces in between. Cheval’s not afraid to mix things up, and that's what makes his art so captivating. It’s like he's in conversation with the great surrealists like Magritte and Dalí, but carving his own path through the canvas. It’s this constant push and pull, the back-and-forth between the known and the unknown, that keeps art alive and kicking.