Il Vicino Pianeta 1972

Antonio Corpora made ‘Il Vicino Pianeta’ with oil paint and a brush, maybe even a rag. The painting has these bold swathes of blue, yellow, and orange, with some olive green thrown in for good measure. I can imagine Corpora, layering and scraping, figuring out how the colors push against each other, like they’re having a conversation. There's an instinct to the brushstrokes, especially those dark calligraphic lines cutting through the space. It’s almost like he’s building a world, or a memory, right there on the canvas. I imagine he’s thinking about the formal aspects of color and composition, and also about something he is trying to capture or let go. These raw marks feel so immediate. I feel like I'm in the studio with him, watching the painting come to life, one gesture at a time. It makes me think of other painters I admire, who are also having this same conversation, artists like Joan Mitchell, or even Helen Frankenthaler. Artists riffing off each other across time. In the end, it’s not about answers, but about keeping the conversation going, in paint.