Radic'tiva 

Rodolfo Arico made 'Radic'tiva', likely in the latter half of the 20th century; its medium isn't specified but looks like a painted canvas. Arico came of age as an artist in a post-war Italy still reckoning with the legacy of Fascism, a time when artists were looking for new visual languages to express a changed world. Here, the canvas shimmers with a cool, almost ethereal light, defying easy categorization. What does it mean to be radical? Who gets to decide what is, or isn't, radical? Arico offers us 'Radic'tiva', suggesting a link between the radical and the active, perhaps even the radioactive. It's a powerful proposition, especially considering Italy’s fraught relationship with nuclear power and its place in Cold War politics. The painting transcends traditional representation and develops a different narrative. 'Radic'tiva' invites us to consider the quiet, persistent energy of transformation. Its subtle activism resides in the emotions it evokes.