Still Life with Fruits 1982

Petros Malayan made this still life sometime in the twentieth century, probably with watercolour. I can imagine him putting these fruits together, arranging them, and painting them wet on wet, allowing the colours to bleed. He’s playing with colour and form; everything is kind of alive, existing in this dreamy space. Look at the greens blending into reds in the pears, or the way the grapes tumble off the side of the plate. It's a constant shifting, a dance between what is seen and what is felt. I bet Malayan was looking at Cézanne, playing around with his ideas but making something entirely new. You see, artists are always talking to each other, across time, across cultures, across mediums, sharing secrets and insights. And through these conversations, the possibilities of painting keep expanding, allowing us to see the world in ever more nuanced and surprising ways.