Tra Parentesi Exp2 2018

Curator: Standing before us is Alfio Giuffrida's 2018 mixed-media painting, "Tra Parentesi Exp2," which translates to "Between Parentheses Exp2." Editor: My initial impression is a controlled, almost diagrammatic, kind of energy. It feels like a schematic exploded into a curious bouquet of shapes. Curator: Absolutely. Giuffrida constructs this painting from what seems like an inventory of signs. Looking closely, we see domestic objects re-rendered through geometric forms floating above a simple potted base. Considering the title, what does that "between parentheses" signify for you? Editor: For me, the parentheses act as a threshold, marking an internal world versus the external—the brackets emphasize confinement but also highlight meaning *within* those confines. The array of recognizable items—rendered graphically—becomes allegorical. What stories are concealed or released, though these symbols, do you think? Curator: I interpret this "between" space as the liminal space between representation and abstraction. These objects, while identifiable, have been stripped of context and transformed. In effect, he has translated the world into code for his own artistic framework and then poses a query to broader culture and historical perspectives on this coded transformation. What sociopolitical narrative does this strike within you? Editor: I am more attuned to psychological narratives here. Given that some images appear repurposed—consider the circle motifs reminiscent of mandalas, often linked with meditative processes—I wonder about the cyclical recurrence of patterns within ourselves, a kind of introspective architecture… Perhaps this painting serves as both cultural and spiritual mirror, then. Curator: A spiritual mirror held up to sociopolitical circumstances, that then encourages us to unpack the historical lineage. This painting operates on multiple levels simultaneously, as is a signature of Giuffrida's. Editor: Indeed. What started as a somewhat clinical presentation, I see now, reveals a quiet vibrancy. A silent song emerges out of symbols—making our own parentheses in the history.