Girl Reading 

Iwo Zaniewski created this painting, Girl Reading, using what appears to be oil pastel on canvas. Notice the textured effect created by the layering of strokes. The material qualities of oil pastel – its softness and blendability – are essential to the image. Zaniewski's technique is almost sculptural: the lines are massed together, building up volume and form. The effect is quite tactile, as if you could reach out and feel the fuzzy surface. The subject here is intimacy, both the depicted scene of quiet domesticity and the nature of the medium. Pastel is immediate, direct. The artist handles the pigment directly. This closeness echoes the interiority of the scene. In this sense, Zaniewski elevates an everyday subject through the careful application of simple materials. He asks us to see the beauty in both the subject and the making, uniting fine art with the sensibility of craft.