La Thebaide 1978

Felix Labisse painted La Thebaide, and, well, it's a trip. Those two figures, painted in this unreal blue-black, it's like they're made of the night sky itself, right? The textures are smooth, and there's this dreamlike quality to the whole thing. Look how the peaks and valleys of the mountainscape are built up, all these subtle gradations of grey, yet the figures are nearly matte, almost flat. It's a surreal combo. Then you have the background, an even, light blue like a cloudless sky. And that mark there, the way the figures are gazing off to the side. It’s the way their eyes catch the light, it hints at an interiority, a hidden world. I’m reminded of the way Giorgio de Chirico played with this sort of atmosphere. Like him, Labisse isn't trying to nail down one meaning, but more like create a space for all kinds of feelings and thoughts. Art's not about answers, it's about the questions.