june berlin (2021) finds the artist taking up a classic painting motif—still life with flowers—and fragmenting it with his typical, expressive brushstrokes. Highlighted  against  the  broader canvas is a towering blue rose, flanked by two smaller, reddish flowers. The background undulates in flickering shades of soft pink, blue and pencil strokes. Though the rose is a very loaded symbol in many cultures, its significance is downplayed here; instead the work explores painting in itself.

Known for his dense, multilayered paintings and collages, Wekua’s It Seems Like That (2021) is striking in its comparatively lean imagery, though both its motif and subtle formal language echo his earlier mannequin figures as well. At the center of an otherwise empty canvas is a figure painted with a single, sketchily-rendered blue line. The slightly mannerist proportions of the figure’s limbs are typical Wekua; its body refuses any clear gender classification. Heightening this impression of androgyny is the figure’s cropped hairstyle: although the definitive line indicates chin-length hair, whispers of blue hint that it might be longer. The figure’s vague, unfocused gaze seems momentarily directed at the viewer until a closer look reveals its eyes to be looking in different directions.

The artist’s practice exposes not only the inherent impermanence of any kind of representation, but also that of perception itself.