30.11.15 2015

Editor: So, this is *30.11.15* by Andrzej Nowacki, created in 2015. It seems to be, perhaps, an exercise in order and rhythm, with all these tightly packed vertical lines. The color is almost monochromatic and the work makes me want to reach out and feel the texture. What is your take on this piece? Curator: Reaching out is exactly the right impulse, even if we can't *actually* touch! I feel it too – this intense longing for physical engagement. What I find so compelling is the push-and-pull between rigid structure and subtle shifts in perception. The way the artist manipulates line and shadow creates this almost hypnotic field, a vibrating surface. It reminds me a bit of minimalist music – think Steve Reich – where small variations within a strict framework build up to something unexpectedly powerful. Do you see that happening here? Editor: Yes, I see what you mean! There is a quiet build up even though the design seems fixed from afar. I suppose, in this way, what seems very cold becomes warmer. Where would you put it in art history? Curator: Good question! I see it fitting into Hard-edge painting, emerging in the late 1950s. It reacts to Abstract Expressionism with an impulse toward planned composition. It values clean lines, flatness of surface, and precise color juxtapositions. Though that all sounds pretty clinical, doesn't it? Yet, there is, in the best examples, a surprising sensuality in this attention to detail. Nowacki is really continuing and complicating that legacy. I see in this an engagement between the eye and the artist's ideas. Editor: It’s interesting how you made it about touch even though its school is about "Hard Edges." I find it amazing how you managed to give so much perspective. Curator: Sometimes the greatest invitation an artwork can make is to connect what you see with how you think, and that always starts with sensing a little something—perhaps with your hands!