Boss of the Plains 2018

Vincent Xeus made this painting of a cowboy in an unknown year using luscious oil paint. I imagine him building up the image through thin layers of blue, wiping away and adding until the figure emerged. I wonder what Xeus was thinking about as he painted it. Maybe he was remembering a Western film, or feeling the expansive freedom of the plains. Notice how the brushstrokes around the hat's brim are loose and free, in contrast to the more defined areas. That single spot of gold! It's like a secret, or a tiny burst of hope against all that blue. This painting reminds me of other contemporary figurative painters who are unafraid to let the paint do its thing, where representation and abstraction meet. Painting is like a conversation, artists responding to each other across time. The real plains might be far away, but here, through paint, we get a feeling, an echo, a shared dream.