Painting in Spring 2020

Iwo Zaniewski made Painting in Spring with pastels, and right away, you can see he's not trying to trick you into thinking this is real. It’s all about the process, that active, messy, and playful space of making. Up close, the colors are gentle but the marks are assertive. Look at the way Zaniewski builds up the image with these distinct strokes – it’s like he’s weaving the scene together, pulling the inside and outside together into one space. The artist painting in his studio could be Philip Guston, holed up in Woodstock, except instead of Klan hoods this artist is looking out at a beautiful spring day, a view rendered in a way that feels both dreamy and solid. That tiny pink lamp on the left, casting its glow on a shelf of books – it's such a small detail, but it brings the whole scene to life. It reminds me of Bonnard, the way he’d capture these intimate domestic scenes, turning the everyday into something magical. In the end, it’s not about perfection, but about embracing the beauty of the imperfect, always in process.