Figo 2006

Beatriz Milhazes made 'Figo' with paint, and maybe stencils, to build up layers of shapes. It's like she's thinking through color and pattern as she goes. There's a real joy in the materials. You can see the layers, how she’s built it up, almost like a collage but all done with paint. The circles and curlicues feel like they're floating on top of each other. I’m drawn to that big black spiral, how it contrasts with the cooler blues and greens. It's kind of a formal thing, how that curve pulls your eye around the canvas. But it’s also, like, a portal or something, a little vortex in the middle of all these pretty colors. Milhazes makes me think of Matisse, how he used pattern and color to create a whole world. Art's always in conversation, right? We’re all just talking to each other across time, riffing on the same ideas, trying to make sense of it all.