Dos Cabezas 1987

Oswaldo Guayasamin made this painting, "Dos Cabezas," with what looks like oil on a textured surface, maybe canvas or board. The palette is warm – earthy oranges and browns, punctuated by these surprising hits of purple. I can almost feel the artist building up the forms, layer by layer, searching for the faces within the paint. It's like he's excavating them from some deep, shared memory. The paint isn't super thick, but you can see how he's worked it, pushing and pulling the pigment to create these angular, almost Cubist shapes. Look at the way he defines the eyes – those dark, almond shapes staring out. I wonder if Guayasamin was thinking about the weight of history, the burden of seeing and remembering. Artists are always in conversation with each other, riffing on ideas, pushing boundaries. What does it mean to see? What does it mean to be seen? Painting lets us ask these questions without having to give easy answers.