Exclusion Essence 2014

Rodrigo Franzao made this painting, "Exclusion Essence," with—well, I wish I knew what he made it with! What strikes me first is the jigsaw grid of color, almost a child’s game, yet the dark tones give the painting a much more serious feel. It’s all about process. Take a look at where the lines are made, the angles and color. The painting is a flat plane, yet you feel the composition and use of dark tones create a feeling of something being hidden. The thickness of the contrasting geometric colors add something to the intensity of feeling, making the work both confusing and fascinating. It reminds me of early Mondrian but with a twist, or even what you might see with Sonia Delaunay's use of color in her geometric forms. I think art is a journey and this is a journey through someone's thought process, a stream of consciousness, and there is always ambiguity in a work of art, rather than a fixed meaning.