Bijou Series
4 X 5 in (10 X 13 cm)
(2002-2003)

The smallest paintings in Casas's catalogue, these 4x5 in. works were made over a concentrated two-year period, 2002 to 2003. Their miniature format — smaller than a standard index card — makes them among the most unusual objects in a body of work otherwise defined by scale, confrontation, and cultural weight. The contrast is hard to ignore: the man who painted 72x96 in. canvases designed to overwhelm the viewer also made paintings you could hold in one hand. Whether read as a meditative counterpoint to his monumental work or as an independent formal investigation, these tiny paintings demonstrate a painter fully in command of his means. They are technically precise and visually concentrated — nothing is wasted when every inch counts. They also offer a counterargument to any reading of Casas as purely a painter of political statements: they suggest an artist for whom the act of painting itself, at any scale, remained a source of genuine discipline.