20.09.16 2016

Andrzej Nowacki made this painting, 20.09.16, using vertical lines and colour to create what I think of as a kind of visual rhythm. The dark and light bands pull you in, but then that horizontal band of shifting greens makes the whole picture vibrate. Up close, the lines are really crisp, but they also feel kind of handmade. Like he’s interested in the imperfect, and the kind of hypnotic effect that comes from repetition, but with small deviations. When I zoom in on those green lines in the middle, I get a sense of transparency, like looking at light through colored gels. Nowacki makes me think of artists like Bridget Riley, who also play with perception and optical effects. But where Riley is all sharp edges and precision, Nowacki is more about the subtle, handmade touch. And that makes all the difference, it's like a painting inviting you to look, and keep looking, finding new things each time.