Noctura 1969

Gil Nicolescu’s *Noctura*, a 125 x 75 cm piece, is an exploration in the simple materials of oil paint on canvas. The earth toned palette gives the impression of something elemental. But look closer: the composition is built from careful, precise lines and sharp angles. It’s as if the artist has taken an analytical approach, building this image like a constructed object, and doing so with a restricted set of building blocks, and a muted color palette. The material execution is fairly straightforward, but there’s an important underlying idea here – the painting feels like a structure, but it can’t really be built, only painted. It’s a kind of paradox: something so evidently handmade from basic materials, but also referencing a different kind of making. Perhaps Nicolescu is subtly challenging our expectations of what painting, with all its history, can really achieve. This calls into question the usual hierarchy of the arts.