Chair, Table and Armchair 

Editor: I’m intrigued by Iwo Zaniewski’s "Chair, Table and Armchair," an oil painting with an understated charm. There’s a sense of quiet domesticity here, a pause in a day. The almost hazy quality to the light makes me wonder, what story do you think this arrangement of objects is trying to tell? Curator: Story… Now you’re asking the million-dollar question! It's almost like a stage set, isn’t it? The vibrant orange hues battling with the grassy green behind the table make me think of clashing memories—perhaps a longing for summer when stuck indoors. It feels intimate, like glimpsing into someone's personal space and their mental landscape at the same time. But why these objects? Editor: The chair pulled away from the table gives a sense of abandonment almost? I am thinking that the placement of a single armchair seems to welcome you into the space. It might be suggesting solitude but also an invitation. Curator: Absolutely. It’s an interesting paradox. You know, I sometimes think that these kinds of compositions are less about what's physically present, and more about what’s conspicuously absent. Who sat in that chair? Who will take up that invitation? Are these portraits without figures? Are we meant to supply the missing characters, weave ourselves into the narrative? Editor: That’s a great question. So the viewer becomes part of completing the story in their mind's eye. The painting offers itself like a diary, you fill in the experiences or memories as you interpret the images. Curator: Precisely! It whispers rather than shouts, doesn't it? This picture resonates with an intimate invitation and introspective quietness that remains for hours. Editor: Thank you, this helped bring so much more nuance and texture to the painting.