Untitled 1996

Editor: Here we have an Untitled oil painting from 1996 by Manoucher Yektai. I’m immediately struck by how textured the piece is; you can practically feel the paint rising off the canvas. It feels both intimate and distant at the same time. What catches your eye in this work? Curator: Oh, the texture sings! It reminds me of when I first tried oil paints – a riot of colors and textures, thick and glorious. It's Yektai's embrace of pure, unadulterated paint, almost a love letter to the medium itself. I see echoes of Post-Impressionism here, that raw emotionality mixed with bold brushstrokes. Do you notice how the figure almost melts into the background? Editor: I do, it’s like the figure and the objects on the table are competing for our attention but at the same time merging into the background. The background feels quite surreal. It almost seems as though they are all part of a shared dream. Curator: Precisely! It blurs the boundaries between subject and environment. And consider Yektai's background – a Persian heritage meeting the Abstract Expressionist fervor of New York. This painting feels like a quiet conversation between those two worlds. I wonder, does the abstracted figure feel personal or universal to you? Editor: Hmmm…I initially thought it was specific, but the more I look, the more I think it reflects on anyone. It evokes a certain state of mind, maybe introspection or reflection. Curator: That's the beauty, isn't it? It's a portal into feeling, painted with pure sensation. Art like this reminds us of the unspoken language we all share. Editor: Absolutely. I came in seeing a textured portrait, but I'm leaving with a deeper understanding of how personal experience and art history can collide on canvas. Thanks for sharing your perspective!