Untitled 2019

Editor: This mixed-media artwork, simply titled "Untitled" by Mariojosé Ángeles, created in 2019, strikes me as both playful and intriguing. The abstract forms and vibrant watercolors give it a lighthearted feel, yet there’s something deeper lurking beneath the surface. How do you interpret this work? Curator: It's interesting you use the word "lurking." Abstraction, often perceived as detached, can be a powerful vehicle for social commentary. Considering Ángeles' Latin American background, do you think this seeming "playfulness" might be a veil? Perhaps it shields a critical engagement with socio-political issues common in Latin American art? Editor: That's a thought-provoking perspective. I hadn’t considered the artwork in that light. So you see the abstraction potentially as a form of resistance or coded communication? Curator: Precisely. Abstraction allowed artists, particularly in politically turbulent times, to critique indirectly. Think about the bold use of color and fragmented forms. How might we read those in relation to cultural identity and the disruption caused by colonialism? Could the overlapping shapes represent the layering of history and identity? Editor: I can see how that could apply. I initially saw the shapes as just that – shapes. Now I am trying to understand them more broadly in relation to those themes. The form may serve to obscure clear readings, so the work asks you to slow down. Curator: And that slowing down is crucial. This work exists at the intersection of aesthetics and politics. Consider the visual language; does it reinforce or subvert established norms and power structures? What dialogues are opened or shut down by this abstraction? Editor: It's fascinating how a seemingly simple artwork can contain such complex layers of meaning. It definitely makes you rethink assumptions. Curator: Exactly! Art isn't made in a vacuum. Exploring those connections transforms our understanding of both the art and the world around it.