Constructie 1997

Gil Nicolescu's 'Constructie' is a painted square, about two and half feet tall and wide, built from straight lines and warm shades of yellow, brown and blue. It's all flat planes and angles, with a warm yellow half-moon at the top. I wonder, did Nicolescu begin with a clear plan? Or did the structure emerge organically, each decision prompting the next? I love thinking about the physical act of painting, the movement of the hand applying each colour, the texture of the paint as it meets the canvas. It reminds me of work by Sean Scully. The way the light shifts across the painting's surface makes me feel like I'm looking at an architectural rendering, a blueprint for a building that exists only in the imagination. It's like Nicolescu is asking us to consider the possibilities of painting, the ways in which we can construct new worlds with color and form, building on the ideas of the past.