This series of 6x6 inch oil paintings on cradled wood panels is a personal exploration of the line and form in Georges Seurat's drawings. By selecting a few of Seurat's sketches and cropping them into a square format, the artist distills the essence of Seurat's meticulous compositions into a more intimate and focused scale. The thin layers of oil paint allow the delicate details and subtle nuances of Seurat’s original works to emerge, while the smaller dimensions offer a fresh perspective, inviting the viewer to linger on the intricate relationships between line (or the lack thereof), space, and light. Through this study, the artist seeks to honor Seurat’s unique vision and reinterpret his drawings through a contemporary lens, creating a dialogue between past and present, technique and perception.

As Seurat once said, "A work of art which did not begin in emotion is not art." In this series, the artist channels Seurat’s emotional precision, attempting to capture not just the physical forms but the spirit behind them.

Artist: Aileen Zhao