EC19-i3 2019

Editor: Here we have Thiago Boecan’s "EC19-i3" from 2019, a painting dominated by ochre hues and featuring strong geometric forms. It feels almost like a maze or a puzzle. What stands out to you in terms of how it was made? Curator: Looking at the materiality, I am drawn to the layering evident in the differing shades, how it seems almost constructed. Consider the artist’s process: was this built up slowly, methodically? What kind of labor was involved in achieving this layered effect with paint? Is this the same as what we traditionally consider painting? Editor: I hadn't thought about the physical process so much. I was focused on the overall pattern. Does the medium—the painting itself—influence the geometric abstraction, or vice-versa? Curator: The materiality is crucial. Abstraction wasn’t just a visual style. What happens if we see painting as something to be worked and built? Then a focus on the construction allows Boecan to comment, perhaps implicitly, on the shift in painting’s role within consumer culture. Was he considering ideas like this while composing this piece? Editor: So you’re saying the very act of applying paint in this way, the ‘doing’ of it, connects to the larger world around the artist? Curator: Precisely. What does this seemingly simple geometric abstraction tells us about the culture in which is produced? Editor: I see now. By examining the materials and methods, we can understand how art reflects its time and social context. Thanks, that's given me a lot to think about! Curator: It’s crucial to look beyond the image and consider the forces that shaped it. Always look at the labor that went into the work itself.