Childhood Memories (diptych) 2011

Iurie Matei painted this diptych called "Childhood Memories" using oil paint. The colors feel like a melancholic dream, all blues and whites. It feels like a memory, something not quite grasped. There’s this girl looking off to the left. On the other side, an old man, maybe her grandfather, embraces her from behind. You can see the brushstrokes that define the clouds above, they're heavy and full of emotion, but then the wisps of lines that connect them are so delicate they could be blown away. The paint is mostly opaque but applied thinly, in layers, like memories themselves. It reminds me a bit of Chagall, but with a heavier dose of reality. Matei really lets the paint work for him, doesn't try to hide the process. It's beautiful in its honesty. It's like he's saying, "This is how I remember it, in fragments and feelings."