Figure 1952

Yiannis Moralis made this painting, Figure, using what looks like oil paint to build up a muted, almost chalky surface. There is something so great about paintings where you can see the artist thinking, shifting, changing their mind as they work. I love how the paint is applied in layers, like sedimentary rock, the brushwork visible but the overall effect is soft and diffused. I’m drawn to the way the blues in the background are scumbled over the canvas. A particular spot that gets me is where the model's right leg meets the brown floor - the painting suddenly dissolves into pure abstraction, and it is hard to tell where the leg ends, and the floor begins. Looking at Moralis, I am reminded of Balthus, another artist interested in the figure. With Balthus, there is a dreamlike erotic charge, but here with Moralis, I feel a gentle humanism. There is no perfect way to paint a figure; this is one attempt, one beautiful solution.