Composition 1989

Vasile Dobrian made this striking ‘Composition’ with oil paint on canvas, and while we don’t have the exact date, it’s a gem. The way he builds up these ochre, brown, and grey shapes, it's all about the joy of the process, right? Looking closely, you can see the beautiful texture, those little peaks and valleys where the brush has dragged the paint. It’s not trying to hide anything, the paint application is pretty straightforward. Check out the way that big yellow band kind of crashes through the space, it feels so dynamic, like a construction or maybe even deconstruction in progress. It’s sort of playful with it’s colour and form. I’m reminded a little of some of the hard-edged abstractionists like Carmen Herrera, with her interest in simplicity, form and dynamic colour, but Dobrian's got his own thing going on. It just goes to show how art is always a conversation, artists riffing off each other across time and space. There's room for everyone to say something new.