The shadow of a bird over the flavor of a song (triptych) 1999

Curator: I’m struck by the materiality of this triptych, the rough-hewn textures contrasting with areas of meticulous detail. It’s quite evocative. Editor: It is. We’re looking at Iurie Matei’s "The shadow of a bird over the flavor of a song," created in 1999 using mixed media. It immediately brings to mind questions about representation and social status. Curator: Tell me more about that. Editor: Well, we have these three panels, right? The one on the left shows what appears to be a pauper, alongside a string bass. On the right, a noble poses next to a sculpture. The middle ground between these extremes features items like painted clown dolls and apples atop an antique flat iron, even a Time magazine cover... The stratification of subjects across panels prompts a kind of intersectional analysis on class distinctions in the late 20th century, and the lingering echoes of an aristocratic past. Curator: Interesting! From a formalist perspective, it's hard not to notice how each panel utilizes a restricted palette, primarily blues and browns, that nonetheless creates overall chromatic harmony, which unifies otherwise seemingly disparate figurative elements. Editor: Yes, there's an intimacy at play. One also can't ignore the loaded cultural connotations of apples here. Their varied arrangement hints toward both symbolic harmony and impending collapse of some imagined societal Eden. It brings in religious overtones. Curator: Agreed. But there’s a deliberate awkwardness in the composition. The visual rhythm fights against easy interpretation. Editor: Indeed. And these tensions between subject and arrangement open questions around performativity—each character occupies a distinct, almost theatrical persona and each set piece feels equally posed. This calls to the modern tendency to blur the boundary of fiction and reality when it comes to discussing power imbalances. Curator: I'll be contemplating its layers of meanings and pictorial arrangements long after we depart this gallery. Editor: Indeed. And I'm taking with me the unsettling parallels the artwork establishes among past social inequities and its contemporary counterparts, echoing themes still prevalent.