Venera 1996

Imi Knoebel made this 'Venera' using assembled painted elements. The colour palette is super Mondrian, right? But it’s the process that grabs me, the way these blocks and strips are put together, not just painted. It's like making a drawing in three dimensions, only the lines are now actual objects casting real shadows. And speaking of shadows, look at how the light catches the edges of that yellow square. It's so clean, so precise, yet there's a certain rawness to it. The paint isn't thick or luscious. It's more like a skin, revealing the materiality of the support beneath. That little red rectangle near the top is my favourite. It almost looks like a misplaced afterthought. It doesn’t quite line up with the other verticals, it’s a tiny rebellion that keeps the whole piece from becoming too perfect. It makes me think of Blinky Palermo’s shaped canvases, where the boundaries between painting and sculpture become wonderfully blurred. There's something wonderfully ambiguous about these kinds of works, embracing multiple interpretations.