Life and Death 1972

Eduardo Nery made this strange picture called "Life and Death," and it’s really got me thinking about how artists try to freeze a moment, nail it down, even though life keeps moving. There’s a sense of motion in this one, right? With the cheetahs leaping through these archways, almost like they're in a flipbook animation. I imagine Nery carefully plotting each jump, each curve of their bodies, trying to capture that fleeting energy. Maybe he was thinking about how life is this series of leaps, and then… well, there’s that box at the bottom. The blue background really flattens the space, making the red archways and white cheetahs pop. I am thinking about the relationship between the architecture and the organic shapes of the cheetahs. It’s kind of like a stage set, and the cheetahs are putting on a show. What’s the show about? I am not sure. But that is the beauty of it. And that’s what paintings do – they give us a space to wander, to ask questions, and to find our own meaning.