Wait - Untitled XIX 1968

Curator: Oh, this makes my synapses fire. There's such raw, playful energy radiating from it. It’s a delicious visual feast! Editor: Agreed. Let’s orient our listeners. We're looking at "Wait - Untitled XIX" by Piero Dorazio, completed in 1968. It's an acrylic on paper, very much situated within the hard-edge painting movement and color field painting. Curator: "Wait..." perhaps suggesting a pause to simply revel in the color? I love how those fractured geometric shapes interact. Like shards of stained glass after a delightful explosion! Editor: Yes, Dorazio’s interest lies in the relationship between color and form, space, and light. Born in 1927, he came of age post-World War II, engaging in Marxist intellectual circles before fully committing to abstraction. He's challenging traditional representation. Curator: Do you see that intentional "roughness" to the edges of the painted bars? It stops them from being too clinical, gives them personality. Like they've weathered a storm or two. I get a distinct feeling of... optimism from this work. Does that sound absurd? Editor: Not at all. Although his early work displays his socialist values, he soon explored pure abstraction. He wanted viewers to confront questions of perception, much like the Italian Spatialism movement and its own break from the legacy of fascist aesthetics in the 1950s and 60s. Curator: And look at the layering! Areas where the colors subtly bleed through, creating new hues, new dimensions. It’s almost like he’s mapping out a hidden language. Or maybe it’s my overactive imagination at work. Editor: No, it's true! This approach aligns him with a broader discourse of post-war artists searching for a new visual language capable of expressing complex socio-political and psychological experiences through geometry. What about the lack of symmetry, though? Curator: Delicious isn't it? Anything too symmetrical is boring, predictable! That's where Dorazio's artistic hand and the emotional resonance really shine. Editor: I find myself seeing those stark diagonals and how they suggest pathways, or ruptures in understanding the past through abstract formalism. Very dynamic for something from 1968. Curator: Absolutely, and I find it fresh even today! Makes me want to throw some paint around. Editor: It's certainly given me a few things to think about in terms of form and function.