Submissive Mechanic 2013

Rodrigo Franzao made "Submissive Mechanic" with mixed media, featuring swirling strokes of color, accented by geometric blocks. It makes me think about the hidden mechanics of painting itself. I imagine Franzao, like any painter, wrestling with that blank surface. He starts with marks, tentative lines in pink, blue, and green – mapping out the space. It’s like the painting is a puzzle and he is trying to solve it as he goes, adding planes of color and collage. The solid blocks of orange, red, and purple are like interruptions, jolts, or anchors. There’s a push-and-pull, between the expressive marks, and the rigid geometry. The textures are raw, immediate, and the lines feel like they are vibrating. I can see echoes of other painters here, maybe some Kandinsky, or even those early modernists trying to capture movement and energy on a flat surface. We all do it, riffing on each other, trying to translate the world into marks and colors.