inspiration 2015

Michael Cheval painted ‘Inspiration’ with oils, and I wonder what he might have been thinking about as he made it. He has combined the figure of the jester with a teapot and a typewriter – what an incredible combination of images! I can imagine him layering thin glazes of paint to create the subtle gradations of tone and color, especially in the fabric that seems to fall from the teapot, and pools on the floor. What does it feel like to be an artist holding a brush making this? Painters are constantly talking to one another across time. I bet Cheval has looked closely at the surrealist work of artists like Magritte and de Chirico, who also made paintings full of strange juxtapositions and impossible objects. Like those artists, Cheval embraces ambiguity, leaving us to make up our own minds about what it all might mean.