Summer at Cozieni 1957

Alexandru Ciucurencu made this oil painting, Summer at Cozieni, with a real zest for putting paint on. It's so clear he had a good time, slapping on those thick strokes of greens, yellows, and blues! Look closely, and you can see the texture, the materiality, of the paint itself. It’s not just an image, it's an object, built up, layer by layer with a brush. The way he’s daubed the foliage of the trees – it’s so full of life. There's something almost Fauvist about the freedom of his brushwork. It reminds me a bit of Van Gogh, actually, the way he’s not afraid to let the paint be paint, to let the process show. It’s like he’s saying, "Here, look what I can do!" And you know what? It’s pretty darn great. It’s like a conversation, an exchange of ideas across time, isn't it? That's what art is all about.