The Socks Seller 1973

Louay Kayyali made this painting of a young man holding socks with paint on board. It’s this very down-to-earth image. I think about the artist making this picture, this person, maybe even this young man standing in front of them. I mean, there is a kind of stillness but also a tenderness in the way he’s painted this guy. Kayyali uses quite a muted palette – soft yellows and greens – and he blends it all together, creating this intimate and human scene. There's a kind of surface tension happening. You can almost feel the texture of the paint on the board, the way the colors bleed into each other. It’s like he’s trying to find the essence of this person, one brushstroke at a time. Painters are always in conversation with one another, across time and space. It’s a constant exchange of ideas and inspiration. And like all paintings, this one is open to multiple interpretations.