Breezy Evening 2020

Timur Akhriev's "Breezy Evening" feels like a memory, painted in strokes of thick impasto. You can see how the painting emerges, shifting with each intuitive decision. I imagine Akhriev, out in that field, battling the wind and light, trying to capture the fleeting moment. Those bold blues and yellows of the sky, they’re not just colors, they’re feelings. The way he’s rendered the horse, it’s not about perfection, but the essence of the animal. I feel a kinship with Akhriev. The way the paint is applied so thickly, it’s like he's wrestling with the medium, trying to coax it into submission. You can feel the struggle, the back-and-forth between intention and accident. It reminds me of the paintings of someone like Joan Mitchell, maybe, or even Van Gogh – artists who aren’t afraid to get their hands dirty. And isn’t that what painting is all about? We’re all just trying to make sense of the world, one brushstroke at a time.