The German

In the twenty-first century, the challenges of working in a traditional medium and choosing to master the luminous qualities of traditional oil paints have led artists to reexamine the power of painting the figure. The small scale and intimacy of Borremans' composition are pushed to a level of mystery by the blurred rendering and the peculiar nature of the subject's action. Here, Borremans has created an enigmatic work in the style of his Symbolist and Surrealist predecessors. His paintings depict subjects caught in the middle of undefined and indefinable gestures and settings, allowing the viewer to assign their own interpretations to the works; projecting meanings from their own subconscious memories and experiences onto Borremans' characters.