Riffs: John Michael Byrd, artist

“I think South African artist Marlene Dumas is a goddess. Though her paintings aren’t always the easiest to wrap your head around, she routinely fetches the highest price of any living female artist. Anyway, I doubt she would care. She does her own thing and takes little interest in the ‘business’ of art. The freakish imagery has a strong expressive power over you, and she knows it. Her acid colors and ‘no holds barred’ attitude to painting pull you in and slap you around. Part painter, part snake charmer, she continues to redefine our conception of beauty.”