Roma 1968

Editor: This is Guido Molinari’s "Roma," created in 1968 using acrylic paint. At first glance, it's just bold, colourful vertical stripes, but somehow, they create an almost unsettling visual vibration. What do you see in this piece beyond the basic geometry? Curator: The insistent, unyielding linearity certainly commands attention, doesn’t it? Yet consider the psychological impact of those colours: the stability of blue juxtaposed with the vibrancy, almost aggression, of that magenta. Think about what those colour combinations might have meant in '68, at the height of the psychedelic era. Editor: So, you think the colours were chosen specifically to evoke a certain feeling? Curator: Precisely. Molinari wasn't just laying down stripes; he was crafting an experience. Notice how the slight variations in tone within each band disrupt any sense of perfect order. That intentional imperfection is crucial. It keeps the eye moving, searching, and, perhaps, questioning what it thinks it sees. It's as if he's using a deeply coded symbolic language of color, where those variations hint at cultural disruption or changes within that specific moment in history. Does the title "Roma" further suggest meaning to you? Editor: I hadn’t thought about it that way, I just thought he may have created it when visiting there! Curator: Perhaps, or, perhaps Roma, as in the nomadic peoples known in many places as gypsies? Roma often carries different significances based on different cultures; perhaps the stripes speak to their transient journeys and the variations hint at cultural variance. This simple pattern really invites multiple possibilities. Editor: That's a completely different perspective than I initially had. It’s more than just something visually striking; there are ideas layered into the very fabric of the painting! Curator: Indeed! And it shows how abstract art, even at its most seemingly minimal, can be profoundly evocative.