Birds 

Editor: This piece is called "Birds," by Sanyu. It's a mixed-media work that features acrylic paint and an impasto effect to it. The moment I saw this, I thought of a melancholic haiku—short, simple, but heavy with a certain feeling. What story do you think this painting is trying to tell? Curator: Oh, melancholic haiku is beautiful. For me, it whispers of urban isolation, doesn't it? Those tiny birds perched on stark power lines against that brushed-out sky…it feels like a commentary on nature trying to find its place in a concrete world. And Sanyu wasn't just painting birds, he was painting a feeling, an emotion hanging thick in the air like that gray sky. What do you feel about the style, the sketchy quality of the lines? Editor: It definitely adds to that sense of unease, almost unfinished. As though the scene is fleeting. Curator: Exactly! It's as if the artist is urging us to not only see, but to feel the ephemerality, the fleeting nature of the moment, the precarity of these birds' existence. Look how he reduces the cityscape to simple geometric forms. Do you feel the painting needs anything more? Editor: It's so interesting to hear you say that about seeing and feeling… before I thought there was more needed, like a spark. Now, not at all. Its restraint adds to its voice. Thanks for sharing your insights! Curator: And thank you for noticing the haiku; I am grateful for such poetic company!