UNSTABLE TERRITORIES 2019

Curator: This striking canvas by Sergio Mario Illuminato, entitled *UNSTABLE TERRITORIES*, dates from 2019 and employs acrylic paint to build its textured surface. My first impression is that it exudes a brooding tension, perhaps even a suppressed violence. Editor: Interesting. I see something melancholic but also beautiful. There’s a raw energy, certainly, and a definite sense of place, or perhaps placelessness? The layers of paint are incredible. It is reminiscent of Abstract Expressionism and a certain anxiety of the mid-20th century, yet rendered through a contemporary lens. Curator: The choice of material is intriguing. Illuminato uses acrylics with an impasto technique to build layers of texture, almost as if creating a topography of the unconscious. I am immediately drawn to how those flashes of gold leaf disrupt what might otherwise be a landscape of muted tones, don't you agree? These metallic shards are scattered as symbols, as if remnants of some glorious empire that has fallen to decay. Editor: I'm intrigued by that description; "decay" speaks to our present cultural and political moment too. How society continually re-writes its story to include previously neglected voices. Maybe it represents shattered aspirations within society itself? The gold then serves as a kind of mocking opulence, highlighting what’s been lost. Curator: The power of abstraction, to me, is that it allows us to grapple with such themes indirectly. It's about triggering a feeling, an emotional connection to something larger, perhaps something universal, rather than presenting a literal narrative. Editor: Absolutely, its ambiguous form welcomes viewers' personal reflections. As cultural theorists have noted, our interaction with art reflects societal tensions of power, memory and historical amnesia; a visual record. Curator: Yes, *UNSTABLE TERRITORIES* certainly evokes a potent emotional landscape, hinting at narratives just beyond our grasp, mirroring our fragmented present. Editor: I leave this space thinking of how physical textures become imbued with psychological landscapes—the push and pull of memory, presence, and absence that resonate so powerfully.