Eingangstore Exp7 2017

Alfio Giuffrida made this painting, 'Eingangstore Exp7', with an unknown medium to create a whimsical composition. Giuffrida lays down patches of colour. It's quite flat and, up close, the surface appears to be meticulously laboured over. The longer you look at the work the more it seems like a schematic diagram that has come alive and wants to play. There are recognizable everyday objects—some kind of sink, a radiator, a door—however, they are rendered as geometric shapes. The artist may have wanted to make a connection between the internal and external reality. A kind of portal into a new world, like Alice Through the Looking Glass. The composition has two towers, maybe these represent knowledge, or maybe they are just there to balance the painting. These towers are connected via a doorway, giving the painting a sense of symmetry, while the different shapes gives each side a distinct character. This piece reminds me a bit of work by artists like Ellsworth Kelly or even some of the more playful, pop-infused works of the Bauhaus. Painters are always in dialogue, aren't they?