Untitled 2013

Rafal Bujnowski made this painting, in a way that feels almost like a memory trying to surface. The palette is so reduced, practically monochrome, that you have to look close to really see the layering and the way the light is built up. It’s almost as if the image is emerging from the darkness through a kind of slow, repetitive process. Look at the way the horizontal strokes of the water contrast with the vertical ones in the background. The paint isn't applied to mimic the scene; the paint is the scene. It’s all about the texture and surface, the physicality of the paint itself, which kind of reminds me of Gerhard Richter's blurred paintings. The ambiguity is the point here. You know, sometimes a painting isn't about answering questions, but about creating a space to ask them.