Asimmetria reticolare 1950

Mario Ballocco made this painting, Asimmetria reticolare, with black shapes and gold paint in no particular year. The black rectangles loom and hover over the yellow, like shadows or blocks in space. It feels solid yet unsteady at the same time, doesn't it? I can imagine Ballocco carefully applying the black paint, making decisions about the size and placement of each shape, trying to balance order with asymmetry. Did he start with a grid and then deliberately break it? What if he’d never painted before and this was his first go? The paint has texture, you can sense the brushstrokes, the slight imperfections. I get a sense of how the artist handled his tools, how he might have felt as he was making the painting. The black shapes push against the shimmering ground, creating tension and a kind of vibration. Like Malevich, Ballocco must have been interested in geometry. But there's something else going on here too, a kind of playfulness, or an embrace of the imperfect. Painters are always looking at one another's work, picking up ideas, and pushing back against them, don’t you think?