Hush 2016

Nemanja Vučković's painting titled Hush, has the appearance of a scene viewed through a rain-streaked window, with its ochre, brown and black colour palette. The way he’s layered the paint tells you a lot about his process, it's intuitive and immediate. Up close, you can see the thick impasto strokes and pools of glossy black paint contrasting with the scratched, translucent washes. Vučković uses the texture and physicality of the medium to create a sense of depth and motion. Take a look at the upper-right corner, those dark, slashing lines seem to vibrate, like a shutter opening or closing. The painting’s quiet title seems at odds with this frantic energy. It reminds me of some of de Kooning’s more frenzied abstractions. Both artists invite us to embrace ambiguity and see art as an ongoing experiment.