One at the Time

Michaël Borremans’s mysterious, often discomfiting images of self-absorbed subjects in indeterminate settings are inspired by photographs, film, magazines, and illustrated books. Although the aesthetics of these pictorial sources seep into his work—the coloration, hairstyles, and clothing recall the 1930s and 1940s—Borremans’s paintings ultimately lack a clear narrative. While his characters appear engaged in actions that require meticulous attention, more often than not the paintings offer little indication of what preoccupies them. Borremans explained, “A painting is not just an image: it is an object with a multi-layered character." One at the Time is one of several works in which figures in white lab coats attend to flat surfaces. Rife with psychological overtones and ambiguity, two men and a woman stare at a cloth-covered table on which three white shelves seem to be floating.