Artwork Description
Georges Mazilu – Fille au col en dentelle
Dimensions: 23 x 20″ framed / 18 x 15″ unframed
Year: 2017
Medium: acrylic on canvas
In Fille au Colle en Dentelle, which translates to “girl with lace collar,” Mazilu references classical portraiture styles which often represented their sitters in elaborate costume as a way of indicating their status and wealth. At the same time, Mazilu interjects his personal style into the work by combining intricate detail with broader fields of space, working in muted tones to suggest a sense of stillness or solitude to the figure and the moment she occupies.
While Georges Mazilu’s oeuvre often focuses on the human form—despite his characters’ unusual proportions and physical compositions—his works begin as loose abstractions that gain recognizability through process. Mazilu describes his paintings as mapping the transition from unconscious to conscious processing and often navigate the tension between his ‘will’ and ‘possibilities’. Mazilu was born in Romania and quickly developed an affinity for producing art, eventually pursuing formal training at the prestigious Grigorescu Institute of Fine Arts. After following what might be considered a classical education, Mazilu’s work began to develop a contemporary edge as it encountered the swell of modern art. Mazilu’s works often combine realism with the absurd and touch on the styles of canonical surrealist artists like Hieronymus Bosch or Salvador Dali. Mazilu’s paintings employ muted color palettes and simple backgrounds, drawing viewers’ attention to his carefully rendered characters posing in formal portraiture style or displaying less-than-human behavior.