Sem título 1987

This untitled painting by Menez, from an unknown date, is a real head-trip in red, isn’t it? It’s like the whole thing's been dipped in a vat of cherry cough syrup. I love it! It has this real immediacy, a ‘grab-it-and-go’ energy, like Menez was chasing after a feeling more than a perfect picture. See how the red kinda bleeds and pools, especially around the figure’s dress? It's like the color itself is alive and kicking. And those blues and pinks sprinkled in? They don’t calm it down, they just add to the chaos. There's one detail I can't get over: that little glass on the table. It's so simply rendered, but it catches the light, doesn't it? Menez reminds me a little of Lois Dodd, who also had this way of finding magic in everyday scenes. It’s like they're both saying, "Hey, beauty’s everywhere, you just gotta look!"