Untitled 1996

Amilcar de Castro made this untitled painting with expressive brushstrokes in black and a bold dash of red. I imagine him, brush loaded, circling the canvas, each stroke a decisive act. The black marks aren't just lines; they feel like a record of movement, of energy released. The red rectangle feels like a key—or is it a barrier? The contrast is stark, kind of unsettling, yet it pulls everything together. There’s a tension here, between the raw, gestural strokes and the clean geometry. De Castro was also a sculptor, and looking at this piece, I wonder if he's thinking about planes and edges, pushing painting towards something more spatial. It reminds me a bit of Franz Kline, but with this unique, almost architectural sensibility. It’s like he’s building a structure, not with steel, but with strokes of ink. Painting is a conversation and an exchange of ideas, each artist speaking through form and color. It's about embracing the open-endedness of the process, allowing for multiple readings.