An impression, however faint, can be cast for a millenia if it deigns to carress the surface of wet concrete. Here the artist deftly employs colour fields to sear Sylvanian youthful camaraderie onto the viewer.

A human pyramid teeters on the brink of a third tier. Perhaps thwarted during previous iterations the palette of blue and green predominates with a lushness of stroke. It saturates yet satisfies.

Athletic male bodies attired for bathing but some abandoned to immodesty commune upward to a canopy of welcoming white flora punctuated by reticent orange. Its avian aspect brings levity to the upper third.

The background of moss green gives way to lime and blue columns. Chromatic chiaroscuro is achieved on the flesh via beige and olive and on the costumes with chalk blue and pale greens. The teal returns to contour sensuously in places.

Emotions are collective. Faces and feelings are suggested but never insisted upon. Whilst its not a flat painting depth is only teased. The paint is serrated, smudged, interrupted but always cohesive. In moments one transports from the arboreal into the submarine.

A wry rebuttal to the Sisyphean dilemma. Lose yourself in losing.

I thought too that our youth was over
and we had failed to find happiness

Alain Fournier
Le Grand Meaulnes

Part of a group exhibition at Galeria Graca Brandao, Lisbon, Portugal.