Maryan Besaga

Insomnia XI conveys one of the most physically palpable states within the series — a moment when inner tension can no longer be contained within an ordered rhythm and transforms into an almost bodily movement of painterly matter.

The composition is built upon a collision between two opposing forces. Horizontal layers establish a certain stability, yet this order is disrupted by a powerful painterly movement cutting diagonally across the canvas. It evokes a flow, a concentration of energy, or the trace of a sudden thought that enters consciousness and alters its familiar course.

The palette of reds, wine tones, pinks, and muted violets gives the space a particularly emotional intensity. Colour acquires an almost bodily quality. Dense oil paint ceases to function merely as a means of representation — the very matter of painting becomes the carrier of experience.

Particularly important in this work is the tension between order and spontaneity. Certain areas still retain the rhythmic structure characteristic of the series, while others literally rupture it through broad, nervous movements of paint. This creates a sense of consciousness attempting to impose order upon itself, only to return again to what cannot ultimately be articulated or suppressed.

Insomnia XI can be perceived as a moment when what has remained hidden breaks through to the surface. What in other works of the series existed as a trace, fragment, or muted presence here acquires force and physical form.

This is no longer simply a stream of thought. It is a state in which the inner becomes matter — colour, relief, gesture, and an almost bodily presence on the surface of the canvas.