Violet 2016

Editor: We’re looking at “Violet,” an oil painting by Adam Caldwell from 2016. It’s… haunting, almost unfinished. The dark background really makes the face pop, but it's also kind of unsettling with those raw brushstrokes. What do you make of it? Curator: Unsettling is a perfect word for it. For me, the beauty lies in that raw exposure. It feels like we're catching Violet in a vulnerable moment, like a memory that's just forming or fading away. Those bold strokes, they aren't just haphazard. Notice how they dissect her face, but also construct it? It's almost a push and pull, creating both form and abstraction. Why do you think the artist leaves so much to our imagination? Editor: Maybe to encourage us to fill in the blanks, to project our own experiences onto the portrait? I mean, the way the colours bleed into each other almost feels like I am remembering someone instead of directly seeing them. Curator: Precisely. It becomes less about representation and more about evocation. And that single striking blue eye just pierces through the canvas. It's like the one solid anchor in a sea of fleeting impressions. Do you find yourself drawn to that eye in particular? Editor: Definitely, it really contrasts against everything else. I guess the ambiguity kind of got me thinking about how identity is fluid, never really fixed. Curator: It's almost like Caldwell’s asking us to confront the transient nature of existence itself. Portraiture as philosophy! I appreciate how an unfinished quality reminds us of what cannot truly be captured, or fully known. Editor: Yeah, me too! Seeing how Caldwell used such bold brushstrokes really gave me some fresh ideas. I will consider it in my studio practice, in particular, thinking about how I use abstraction within figurative work.