Composition 1956

Leo Leuppi made this painting, Composition, using what looks like gouache or tempera, sometime in the mid-20th century. The marks are immediate and playful, full of open-ended searching that feels very process-based. There is something wonderfully handmade about the shapes. Look at that dark blue form near the bottom left, built up of hatched lines and filled with white speckles. The paint application is interesting, it is semi-transparent in places and quite matte. The combination of the orange background with blues, blacks, and reds creates an earthy but vibrant feel. This piece reminds me of a Paul Klee painting; there is a similar attempt to synthesize abstraction and figuration. In the end, art invites us to embrace uncertainty and ambiguity. Leuppi’s painting feels like it’s having a conversation with itself, and it invites us to eavesdrop, adding our own thoughts and feelings to the mix.