Serie MICRAS 2017

This is a 50 by 50 cm painting by Requena Nozal and, wow, it’s like looking at something under a microscope, or maybe even a satellite image of some strange planet. I can imagine the artist layering paint, wiping it away, and then adding more. There are these stark black shapes, and on top of that, this wild, web-like structure of white paint—it's almost as if the painting is growing its own little ecosystem. The paint looks thick and sculptural, like frosting. The artist’s really playing with texture. I'm thinking about other painters who build up surfaces, like Guston, but with a totally different vibe. Nozal’s got a coolness to their work. And those few pops of blue? They're like little secrets, glimpses of something deeper. It feels like they are in dialogue with all the painters who came before. It's a conversation across time.