Engaged 1953

Adalbert Erdeli painted ‘Engaged’ with oils. Erdeli makes colour look easy. He's got all those folk costume colours working together; the pink, the blue, the black. It’s like he is saying "I can do this". He has a confidence that is almost like folk art. Look at the way the surface almost disappears in places; see how the paint thins out? I love that. It means that nothing is too precious. He's just diving in, getting it down, then moving on. And there’s a bit of awkwardness about the space between the figures that I really enjoy. It’s not trying to be slick or sentimental. I'd love to see what happens if Erdeli and Alex Katz got together for a painting hang, that would be an interesting exchange. Art is always a conversation, and it’s never really finished.