Springtime 1963

Alexandru Ciucurencu made this small oil sketch, Springtime, by daubing strokes of greens and yellows, with whites and greys, on what looks like cardboard. I love the feeling of transience here, the casualness of the scene and the lightness of the mark making. I imagine he was working quickly, responding to the environment with immediacy and perhaps a little joy. He was probably thinking, ‘How can I capture this light with these pigments in front of me?’ I like the confident upright marks of white he’s placed on the ground, like palings or tree trunks, and the scumbled marks of green that float above them, a sort of canopy. It reminds me of Fairfield Porter, maybe because of the gentle observation and the unpretentious handling of paint. Both these painters share an unassuming vision, and a way of seeing that celebrates the everyday.