Painted Window 1971

Ivan Tovar made this Painted Window with what looks like oil paint, though I could be wrong! It has the precision of someone thinking through a problem or question in their mind. See how the floating planes recede back into space, with each tile so carefully graded and placed? It’s like a perspective exercise, but one where the end goal is not to show off skill, but to find a kind of quiet, reflective surface. The dark background helps to emphasise the flatness and isolation of the forms. It’s like a stage set, waiting for something to happen. For me, this way of working has something in common with Giorgio Morandi, someone else interested in the poetics of objects, and how a painting can be a kind of meditation. Ultimately, a piece like this remains enigmatic, and maybe that is its power.