Untitled 1953

Sandu Darie made this untitled painting with what looks like oil on canvas, and it's like a city grid as imagined by someone who really loves primary colors. I like how the off-white ground isn’t totally flat. You can see the texture of the brushstrokes underneath, which makes the whole thing feel more alive. Look at how the rectangles of red, yellow, and gray are laid out; they're so exact, but then there are these little imperfections that make the whole thing sing. There’s a gray parallelogram in the lower left with a tiny red square just above it. That little detail is so precise it feels like poetry. Darie’s work reminds me a bit of early Mondrian, but with a warmer, more playful vibe. It’s like he’s saying, "Yeah, abstraction can be serious, but it can also be kind of fun." And isn't that the truth!