Via Appia II 1959

Curator: Oh, there's something beautifully forlorn about this one, isn’t there? Editor: It has an immediacy, almost like a snapshot but done with the delicate hand of a draughtsman. This is "Via Appia II", created in 1959. Curator: The road...It just disappears into nothing, like a fading dream or memory. I get a very somber sense of temporality looking at the watercolor strokes and muted palette here. It feels ancient but fragile at the same time. Editor: Fragile because of the medium, watercolor on paper, undeniably. But thinking of the Via Appia itself – it's all about Roman engineering. The labor, the materiality... the consumption of resources needed to build and maintain something so grand. This sketch distills the Roman ideals into mere suggestions. Curator: Suggestions that haunt, though. Imagine the artist sitting there, sketching this epic scene…Maybe he was thinking about history, decay, or just the quiet beauty of persistence. I imagine the sweltering heat while this was composed. Editor: Well, the creation of cityscapes as art reflects both social organization and available raw materials – it speaks of empire, its construction and also its long-term sustainability. The choice of representing a decaying yet symbolic architecture highlights how even dominant social forces must grapple with time. It gives us the raw aesthetics stripped from use value. Curator: Hmm, perhaps. For me, it transcends the literal. It's less about raw materials, more a visual poem of feeling. You know? It stirs something... the dust, the ghosts along that road... Editor: And it’s through the application of watercolor on paper that that feeling arises. It is interesting to observe art forms that document the remnants of labor and social formation. The labor that goes into producing what's depicted here has been replaced by what labor has been lost, repurposed and decontextualized. It becomes something altogether new! Curator: Yes, a lovely ruin. An idea of ruin, a visual echo. The artist transforms something weighty into something so light and transparent! So lovely to look at, but ultimately, also sad to contemplate. Editor: An evocative synthesis then of production, consumption and aesthetics across two millennia? Interesting.