Artwork Description
Georges Mazilu – La poire
Dimensions: 18 x 21.25″ framed / 10.6 x 13.8″ unframed
Year: 2019
Medium: acrylic on canvas
In La Poire, Mazilu renders the past through the present by touching on historical artistic traditions through contemporary adaptation; pears are often found in classical still lives, yet Mazilu re-works these associations by placing the fruit in his sitter’s hand. The work suggests a sense of concealed narrative through the woman’s face and clothing, allowing viewers to attach personal adaptations and narratives to the scene.
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.
by Keira Seidenberg, Art History/Gender Studies student, McGill University