Tenderness 1984

Ivan Marchuk made this painting, called Tenderness, by loading up his brush with paint and making a heck of a lot of marks! Look at the thousands of tiny strokes that make up the petals on those daisies. They almost vibrate, don’t they? You get the sense of a real abundance, like the field just keeps going and going. The paint isn’t particularly thick, but the way he layers the colour makes it feel like the light is shifting all over the place. See how the blue flowers are nestled amongst the daisies? Their simple shape and saturated colour adds a counterpoint to all those delicate petals. When I look at this piece, I’m reminded of Fairfield Porter, who also celebrated the beauty of the everyday in his paintings of gardens. Both artists remind us to pay attention to the joy of the present moment, even in its most humble forms.