Feminine Connection 1 2016

Monica Ikegwu painted this portrait, called 'Feminine Connection 1'. The background is like a maze, a pale pattern over a green that makes me think of walls – wallpaper even. But then, right there in the foreground, we have this figure who is absolutely not lost, and not trapped either. The blue of the lips, the luminous quality in the eyes! I can imagine the artist wanting to honour something she sees as beautiful. I wonder, what does it feel like to see this person? It is like the artist is saying, "I want to paint her", that is where the connection is. The artist looking, and the subject offering herself to be seen. It’s all about painting as an act of love. And the painting itself becomes an act of love, too. Like all paintings, this one seems to have emerged through a beautiful process of seeing, feeling, and applying paint. Monica Ikegwu is part of a long, ongoing conversation between painters and their subjects.