Bianco + Giallo 1971

Dadamaino made Bianco + Giallo from paint on canvas, covering the surface in precise ranks of yellow circles. In this work, the apparent simplicity is deceptive. The canvas is filled with the labor of hand-painting each individual circle. The effect of the color as it fades from yellow to white depends on the regular spacing of the dots. It must have taken considerable planning and skill to control. The question then becomes, what is the artist trying to achieve with all this effort? Dadamaino was associated with the European Zero movement, which embraced the grid as a means of structuring visual space. But also, perhaps, to suggest something about industrialization – the way that labor is organized in the modern world. Here, the effect of the material is not just aesthetic, but prompts us to think about the value of work, and the systems that organize it.