bridge 1915

David Kakabadzé painted this landscape, titled 'bridge', with oil on canvas, and looking at it, I just get a sense of someone really enjoying the materiality of paint. The bridge itself is rendered in these thick, creamy strokes, reflecting in the water below in strokes of blues and yellows. It is not particularly neat, or precise, which is its charm. What is wonderful about paint is that it is, well, paint! The thick impasto builds up this gorgeous sense of depth, and the bridge feels very solid despite its somewhat cartoonish rendering. Look at the way Kakabadzé dragged the paint across the canvas to create the mountains in the background - simple, unblended strokes in various shades of grey and white to create depth. I feel a real affinity with these kinds of works, that embrace the messy, imperfect nature of artmaking. There’s something so generous and open about the way Kakabadzé has handled the paint in this piece. In some ways, it reminds me of Van Gogh, but with a slightly more muted palette. It's a great example of how artists can take similar approaches but achieve completely different results.