Ivan Lipoveanul 1969

Octav Angheluta painted this portrait of Ivan Lipoveanul, and what strikes me is how the paint seems both carefully applied and also kind of thrown on at the same time. There's this real push-and-pull between the texture, the color, the surface, and the medium. The paint is thick, yet the light still finds a way to make it glow. Check out the way Angheluta captured the weathered skin of his subject – it's as if he's mapping the terrain of a life lived outdoors, every stroke telling a story. And those brushstrokes? They're not trying to hide; they’re part of the show. You can almost feel the artist’s hand moving across the canvas. This reminds me a little of Courbet, who had a similar way of making his paintings feel alive and immediate. For me, this kind of art is always more about the journey than the destination.