Mirjeta 1 2011

Gazmend Freitag made this square oil painting, ‘Mirjeta 1’, with loose, colorful brushstrokes. I can imagine Freitag standing back, squinting, then leaning in close, swiping at the canvas with his brush. It’s a dance, right? A back and forth, a little push and pull. The painting emerges, not fully formed, but pieced together, layer upon layer. I like how the strokes around her face are kind of scumbled and broken, and how the ground is loosely washed in with greens and reds. It’s like he’s trying to capture something fleeting, something just out of reach. The way he's built up the color on her face, the pinks and yellows, feels so fresh. It reminds me of some of the earlier expressionist painters, like Paula Modersohn-Becker, who were also trying to get at something real and raw through color and form. There's a conversation happening across time, an exchange of ideas. Painting is just that, embodied expression. I like that the painting embraces ambiguity and uncertainty, allowing for multiple interpretations.