Organelle 7 2015

Rodrigo Franzao made this box-like construction with mixed media, and it feels like I’m peering into a little world, where the process is right there on the surface. The light green background is smooth, maybe resin, and it looks like a shallow pool reflecting the fragile lines of wire that emerge, which creates a sense of depth, like looking through a microscope. There’s a sense of mapping or diagramming going on with the wire, all leading down to these white drips, like stalactites in a cave, or teardrops. That dripping effect, combined with the linear structure is so interesting, something between the organic and the geometric. It makes me think of the drawings of medical diagrams by Forrest Bess, another artist with an interest in inner worlds, who was deeply concerned with mapping the complexities of the human body. With both artists there is an undeniable sense of play, and the embracing of ambiguity in the exploration of abstract forms.