Untitled (Blue abstraction) 1997

Jerzy Nowosielski made this painting, an untitled blue abstraction, using oil on canvas. The canvas sings with cool blues, anchored with small squares and rectangles of black, red, and orange that hold the composition together. I imagine Nowosielski starting with the blue rectangle, working with different tones and shades in a state of experimentation. The colours here are flat and graphic, but somehow avoid being hard-edged; they have a softness. The shapes aren’t quite symmetrical, and this tension gives the painting a weird kind of energy. It reminds me of Constructivism, maybe, or even stained glass. Nowosielski had a background in icon painting, and you can see how that interest in geometric abstraction and spiritual expression might come through here. Artists are always absorbing and responding to each other's work through time, like one big conversation! It’s never just about what it looks like, but about feeling, about trying to make sense of the world.