Four Nudes 

Editor: Here we have "Four Nudes" by Walasse Ting, an acrylic painting just bursting with colour! There's a definite sense of… joyful exuberance to it, a playful quality. The figures, especially their faces, are rendered with such simple, almost childlike lines. What's your take on this? Curator: Exuberance, yes, a fabulous starting point. You know, Ting wasn't just painting figures, he was painting the feeling *of* figures. Look at how he uses colour. Not to represent skin tones realistically, oh no, but to evoke mood, spirit. That pink nude on the left – doesn't she just *hum* with confidence? Do you get a sense of traditional, reverential nudes, or does it feel like something else entirely? Editor: Definitely something else. There's no sense of classical beauty or, you know, idealized forms. More like…a celebration of individual energy? The naive art feel makes it appear playful! Curator: Bingo! Naive isn’t dumb. These seemingly simple strokes are anything *but* simplistic; he's disarming us, inviting us into a world of pure feeling. The flowers the figures carry…to me, they're a symbol of flourishing and embracing a uniquely female perspective on joy. Can’t you almost smell their scent? And do we need to see *more* detail to understand the figures any deeper? Perhaps his painting hints, in a colorful sense, that all we see in this particular arrangement *is* all that we can truly find. Editor: I never thought of the floral arrangement quite like that! That kind of, simplifies the image? This work does encourage you to cast off pre-conceived notions, for sure! It has changed the way I now see naive and pop art. Curator: That is the pure art and the artists ultimate power! And your vision too!