A step back, Florence 2017

Giuliana Lazzerini's painting, A Step Back, Florence, presents us with a dreamlike vision in acrylic on canvas. The color palette is pure fantasy, as if Lazzerini is re-membering a place more than representing it. The surface has a pleasing texture, a light touch, which gives the painting its whimsical air. Take a look at the trees: they are rendered as simplified white lines against a ground of layered pinks and reds. They give the impression of having been drawn in a single, continuous movement. This kind of mark-making speaks to me of intuitive processes, a dance between hand and eye, unburdened by the need for accuracy. The overall effect is playful, dreamlike. It reminds me of the work of outsider artists like Bill Traylor, who similarly found a space of freedom in the simplification of form. Art, at its best, is an ongoing conversation, each artist building on the visions of those who came before.