Sea no. 52

Sea no. 52/ Gouache on paper/ 15 x 11 cm

Sea no. 52, possesses a quiet but commanding presence—an image distilled to essential contrasts and layered gestures that evoke vastness, absence, and the elemental.

The work is structured by three horizontal zones: a dark, almost impenetrable sky; a jagged silhouette of coastal hills; and a sea rendered in wide, green strokes streaked with ochre. The landmass, nearly black, cuts sharply across the middle of the composition like a threshold between the infinite sky and the animate sea. Its rough, textured edge suggests vegetation or the frayed edge of memory—something solid but not fully known.

The sea is both surface and depth: its green tones shift from jade to viridian, while the ochre bands skim the water like veins of reflected light or time-worn tide marks. The brushwork here is confident and physical—an index of the painter’s hand moving rhythmically, but without hesitation. These gestures carry the sea beyond realism, making it felt more than seen.

Above all, the painting operates in the realm of sensation. The darkness of the sky is not merely nocturnal—it hints at a larger emotional or psychic atmosphere, like longing or containment. There's a palpable tension between stasis and movement, between the still land and the subtly undulating sea.

This work does not depict a place; it conjures a presence. It invites the viewer into a space of solitude where landscape becomes a vessel for reflection, memory, and the unknown.