Curaçao I 1969

Curator: This is Nono Reinhold’s “Curaçao I” from 1969, an acrylic painting that uses geometric forms to create a somewhat abstract landscape. Editor: I see starkness, but warmth too. Like a building block from childhood, only baked under a really relentless sun. The simplicity is deceptive, almost dreamlike. Curator: Reinhold's formal strategies are intriguing. The limited palette of blues, reds, and ochres contributes to the effect, and the precise rendering of planes lends it an almost architectural quality. There’s a careful consideration of spatial relationships that creates an internal logic. Editor: Exactly! That interplay you point out sparks something. Makes me think about displacement. Like this structure, perfectly composed but solitary, stranded almost, on this arid plane beneath that vast sky. What is it guarding? Or escaping? Curator: The tension perhaps lies in the title itself, "Curaçao I," suggesting a specific place, but rendered in such a deconstructed manner. One could analyse the geometric simplification as an essay into early modernist aesthetics, abstracting reality to its core elements. The house becomes not just a house but an archetype. Editor: An archetype… haunted by its own stark beauty! Maybe it’s just me projecting. All I can think about are old Kodachrome slides, these sorts of lost island memories. It strikes a lonely, gorgeous chord. Almost painful. Curator: It is indeed a powerful work. By stripping away the extraneous, Reinhold invites a focus on fundamental form. The artwork provides a striking examination of shape and colour. Editor: Totally. A minimalist island poem that makes my heart ache! Makes you want to hop a plane, maybe search for the "real" place behind the picture, although probably best just to let the art do its thing...