Comme un tapis de prière 1962

Horia Damian made this painting, called Comme un tapis de prière, which translates as Like a prayer mat, with paint, but when I don’t know. It's like he's scraping and pushing the paint around, a real physical wrestling match, resulting in a surface that’s got this incredible texture, like old plaster. The palette is hushed, mauves and off-whites, until the gold, which is like sudden thought. The way the white paint billows and curls in the center reminds me of smoke, or maybe a memory surfacing. Then you have the gold leaf, glittering around the edges, like a halo, or a precious frame. There's a sense of both fragility and strength, like something ancient being revealed. It reminds me a little of Antoni Tàpies, that sense of raw materiality and spirituality mixed together. Art is about an ongoing conversation, isn't it?