I can't help myself Painting

acrylic paint on paper This is a mesmerizing little work; it small enough for you to bring it up close and commune with it personally, an invitation made by all of Darukhanawala’s tantalizing pictures. Holding the picture is like imitating what’s going on in the image itself: the blue circular band almost envelops the blue circle: trapped, comforted, embraced, locked in yet perhaps pushing outwards for freedom, for its own right to expression. The boundaries between colours and different parts of Darukhanawala’s paintings are integral in their impact and their meaning. Here, the blues are related but separate. The inert thereness of the central blue contrasts with the fast, circular movement of the outer band where the scratched out lines create a circular inward movement that is remarkable given that the image has a zen-like stillness to it at the same time. ‘Your precious love […] What I want to say - but my words just fail Is that I need it so I can't help myself Like a hungry child - I just help myself And when I'm all full up - I go out to play’ Darukhanawala has an uncanny knack of being able to make potentially inimical opposites cohabit, and this serene-energetic-serene painting is no exception. You can come back to it anew time and again and – like any accomplished psychological or conceptual work of art – it will help you to find out your own thoughts for yourself in your own time and way. Dimensions above include frame (unframed: 148 x 105 mm.)