Plastic Love 2021

Daria Theodora created this watercolor work, Plastic Love, sometime in the 20th century, and the way she plays with color and form really draws me in. It's like she's letting the paint do its thing, guiding it rather than controlling it, which I always appreciate in artmaking. The colors here are so dreamy, almost translucent, creating a whimsical, otherworldly feel. Look closely at the flamingo’s neck; the pink bleeds into soft oranges and whites, giving it this ethereal quality. The texture is smooth, but you can see the subtle layering of the watercolors, each wash building up to create depth. The way the colors blend and bleed into each other gives the whole piece a sense of movement, like it’s constantly shifting and changing, which is how I think about art too, as something fluid and never truly finished. This piece reminds me a bit of Paula Rego, with its surreal and slightly unsettling atmosphere, both artists invite us to explore the darker, more complex aspects of the imagination.