Praise for the humble human in these voyeuristic paintings by Serban Savu

Painting a close-range portrait of someone you love or admire is commendable, painting a picture of anonymous members of the public performing banal human rituals is quite another. The paintings of Serban Savu have a dusty, peaceful charm to them that reminds you of that anonymous, voyeuristic feeling of looking through a hotel window at strangers below. Be it workmen drilling into the side of a cliff, a group of men pushing a broken-down bus, or even just a football game, the consistent theme here is the selfless art of maintenance and the glory of teamwork. Let’s hope that Serban’s work survives us all, so future beings on the planet can look at them and know we were kind, and we toiled, and things were calm.