Curtain 2007

Rafal Bujnowski made "Curtain," a 45 by 45 cm painting, at an unknown date, using paint on canvas. The magic here is in the application, right? Those vertical strokes of diluted paint—almost like watercolor, but on canvas—they're not trying to hide the process. It’s all about the gesture, the body moving, the hand making a mark, the paint dripping, the building of the image. Look at how Bujnowski lets the paint run, creating a ghostly figure. The figure and ground are both built up of these same marks. The texture is smooth, the color limited to these muted blues and grays, which makes it all feel kind of melancholic, or like a memory fading away. It’s like looking at a photograph that’s been left out in the sun, bleached and softened. Bujnowski reminds me of Gerhard Richter. Both artists play with focus and blur, exploring how much information we actually need to recognize something, and how much can be left unsaid. Art isn't about answers, it's about the questions.