Clay was mixed into the gesso ground before painting, so the support itself carries texture and physical weight before a mark is made. The forms that emerge from the painted surface suggest biological shapes — organs, seeds, the cross-sections of roots — without representing any specific thing.
The mixed media approach here serves the content: things that are partly hidden, partly present, partly in process are better served by a surface that is itself ambiguous between painting and sculptural object than by a flat, conventional canvas.
About the artist
Simona Apostol's paintings do not start with a subject — they begin with a colour, a texture, or a word, and the image that emerges during painting is accepted rather than planned. This approach means her work has the emotional intensity of expressionism, the formal organisation of abstract work, and occasional recognisable imagery that appears as if by accident.
She has developed this practice over more than a decade, resisting the pressure to make her process more legible or her imagery more consistent. She accepts commissions rarely, and only from collectors comfortable not knowing what the finished painting will look like.
