Impressioni d'Africa 1997

Enrico Baj made this riotous dreamscape, *Impressioni d'Africa*, probably sometime in the late 20th century using paint and collage. The palette is full of strange and interesting contrasts, the process immediate and direct. There's a certain raw energy, a frenetic mark-making that throws representation into the realm of something more instinctive. Look closely, and you’ll notice a layering of textures and colors, the paint applied in both thin washes and thick impasto. The surface isn't just a canvas; it's a playground for Baj’s imagination. Check out the figures towards the center of the picture, the way their many eyes stare back at us, as if art is a process of observing our own gaze. The work reminds me of Dubuffet. Like him, Baj sought to dismantle academic conventions, embracing the crude and the spontaneous. Ultimately, *Impressioni d'Africa* is an open-ended question, it invites us to consider art as a space of possibility, where fixed meanings dissolve into a multiplicity of readings and experiences.