Eurosport 2003

Florin Ciulache made this painting, "Eurosport," with no date that I know of, but you can see it's an image built up from thick, deliberate marks. I get the sense that the making of the artwork was a process of slowly layering blues, adding the logos and text with precision. The paint is laid on so thick you can practically see the artist's hand moving across the surface. It’s a real materiality that makes you want to reach out and touch it, to feel the ridges and valleys of the impasto. Look closely at the upper-left corner, the figure there is worked in short, choppy strokes, almost like mosaic tiles. It's so built up it has a sculptural presence. This emphasis on texture and layering reminds me of the work of Gerhard Richter, who also explored the ways in which paint can create both an image and an object at the same time. Just like Ciulache's painting, it’s a reminder that art is not just about what we see, but how we see it, and how we engage with the physical world around us.