The guitar 1914

Juan Gris painted ‘The Guitar’ with oil on canvas sometime in the early 20th century. He makes it look so easy, but I know it wasn’t. Gris's Cubism takes things apart and puts them back together in surprising ways. It's like he's saying, "Here's a guitar, but also here's the feeling of a guitar." I am really into Gris’s colour palette; the browns and yellows are earthy, and the patterned wallpaper flattens the image. Look how he uses the grain of the wood to create depth. There's an attention to the surface texture that draws you in, especially with that wallpaper pattern, and it's as if each element is fighting for your attention. The guitar seems to be both there and not there, solid and fragmented, all at once. Gris and Picasso were kindred spirits. They were both exploring the possibilities of Cubism. For me, art isn't about answers. It's about the conversation and the questions.