Waanswu 

Curator: Today we're looking at "Waanswu" by Jaroslav Serpan, an abstract painting. Editor: It strikes me as violent, a kind of organized chaos painted in high-contrast colors. The texture seems thick, almost sculpted. Curator: Exactly. This work uses acrylic paint and impasto techniques to create a dynamic interplay of form and abstraction. I read its rawness as a critique of systematized societal control, and the way marginalized communities are forced to navigate oppressive structures. The layers are like years of embedded struggle. Editor: I'm curious about the layering of the paint itself. You can almost see the process, the addition and subtraction. Is it about the materiality of paint as a medium capable of reflecting and even commenting on that embedded struggle? Curator: Precisely. We have to consider what making a painting demands materially. Art isn't born in a vacuum; materials have histories, embedded economic systems and origins. The act of painting becomes a powerful statement about accessibility, production, and, perhaps, subversion of expected artistic norms. Editor: Subversion in the very process, by building and layering it speaks to its creation, and possibly hints at hidden and embedded origins? I'm struck by that. What’s invisible also is part of the discussion, that's part of the making? Curator: Precisely! The unseen labor, the historical narratives embedded in material production, the exploitation inherent within capitalism are all silently present and at work in even the most gestural abstraction. Editor: Considering Serpan's process and materials has certainly reshaped my initial interpretation, making it less purely emotional. The context creates a far more nuanced experience than initially considered. Curator: And for me, looking through the lens of contemporary theory deepens the potential of abstract expressionism beyond pure aesthetics.