During my Second year of University I came across the work of Wilhelm Sasnal and was hooked. Unfortunately I have missed the opportunity recently to see his work up close but I remain transfixed by his use of colour and composition. The subjects for Sasnal’s works may often be unrelated, some landscapes, others nod at an historical event and some just depict a person reclining. What they have in common is their broad brush stroke and bold colour that gives them a film like quality and hint at a bigger story beyond what we see inside the frame. Sasnal’s refusal to adhere to one subject implies that there is connection in all things. His paintings appear deliberately composed so that the viewer looks where Sasnal wants him to focus. Speaking about what interests him most in painting he said ‘finding the consistency of thickness of paint, of colours, that make a painting ageless.’ (Hauser and Wirth, 2015). It would appear that his combination of subject or lack thereof combined with these other aspects such as framing and thickness of paint, may have created just that. Looking at Wilhelm Sasnal’s work has made me more aware of my own compositions-perhaps I need more than just a face. Are my compositions too flat? Would a smaller scale make it more intimate? Does the subject matter when composition is the same?….
