Crying Eyes 2007

Enzo Cucchi's small painting, Crying Eyes, is made with what looks like oil on board. The color palette is spare, but it's the quality of the line that grabs me, and how immediate the whole thing feels. It’s like he's just grabbing at an image, pulling it into being. Look at the underbelly of the cow, how the udder is rendered as a skull. It’s a bold move, using a symbol of death right there in a place of nourishment. See how the white paint is scraped across the surface? It's not precious or fussy; it's like he's wrestling with the paint. And the cow looks a bit startled, as if it has just realised the duality of life and death. Cucchi’s work always reminds me a bit of early Philip Guston—that same raw, honest, and slightly unsettling approach to making. Both of them are reminding us that art is not about perfection; it’s about process, and the emotional truth that emerges along the way.