Surfers at Night 2022

Iwo Zaniewski's "Surfers at Night" is a kind of dreamscape conjured with what looks like wax crayon, giving it a gorgeous, almost naive texture. I imagine Zaniewski building up the image layer by layer, pushing and pulling forms from the darkness, that almost theatrical black. What's so beautiful to me is how the light seems to emanate from within the figures and objects themselves. There’s a real sense of observation here – not just of surfers, but of a whole social ecosystem that surrounds the surf scene. I’m particularly drawn to the game in the foreground and the sky at the top, which mirrors it. Both ask us to contemplate paths, choices and ways through. We're all just trying to find our way, whether through a game or through life, right? And maybe that's what Zaniewski is getting at here: life's a beach, but it's also a puzzle. Like a painting.