January Thaw 1987

Robert Qualters made this painting, January Thaw, with visible brushstrokes and a palette that seems to capture the fleeting light of a winter afternoon. Imagine Qualters, brush in hand, layering color upon color, trying to nail that hazy, in-between moment as the city softens in the thaw. You can see it in the way he’s built up the paint, a kind of searching, finding, losing, and finding again. I sympathize with this struggle, with trying to catch something that’s always slipping away. The figures in the foreground, they’re almost like ghosts, present but not quite solid. The city beyond, a mix of hard edges and blurred light, feels both familiar and dreamlike. It's a world, a place, as much felt as seen. I think this painting is about this moment. Qualters is in conversation with painters throughout time who are working from life, and not from photographs. It's like they ask: what can we see if we try a bit harder?