n investigation into my system of caprice and its consequences Beloved! Circa. Vienna / Berlin. Oil on canvas. 101 × 101 cm. A little one, yes? (Yesterday was the penultimate day. I finally understood why Lippi feels more hospitable than Botticelli, despite my obsession. It turns out that Verrocchio is the one who provokes the most immediate physiological excitement in me. I miss Susanna and the Elders by Veronese. I fall at Giotto’s feet. And I would let no one but Fra Angelico put me on a leash.) She is at once Circe, a circus, and my ironic yet utterly sincere exercise in acknowledging the immense importance of the Renaissance masters in my biography. An acknowledgement of joy, and of its many different natures. A long, rolling attempt to find balance while constructing a kind of pseudo-decorativism, within which more complex things may be exercised openly and legally. A surrender on that front. A few powerful zones of turbulence, followed by an entirely joyful liberation. This is a painting about joy and the dance of spring. A skinless, forgive me Lord, Mary — neither quite one thing nor the other. She continues The Song of Songs, which has already found a worthy home in the private collection of a magnificent woman. Within Circa are celebrated heads that have grown themselves bodies. Within Circa are acrobatics, the mysteries of pleasure, acts of looking and being looked at, spring, my favourite pigments, and a certain directness. The canvas was begun after I discovered a new degree of tolerance and mercy towards human nature in Bruegel’s paintings, within the magnificent Viennese collections, including their unexpectedly rich Egyptian holdings. Of particular significance: this is the first painting in which I have clothed a human figure. The sketch was made on a flight from Barcelona to Vienna. (Alex Manny and 2 sweets ♥️) Then, through Venetian, Berlin and Viennese adventures, beautiful Circa slowly arrived at completion. My erotic research continues. With affection, I continue to identify and define my hunger. Hooray.