Black and the Red II 1992

Editor: We're looking at "Black and the Red II" by Nancy Spero, created in 1992 using mixed media, ink, and drawing on paper. It strikes me as a powerful, fragmented narrative. What compositional elements stand out to you? Curator: I'm drawn to the rhythmic repetition of figures, organized horizontally, it creates a visual tempo. Note the stark contrast between the figures rendered in linear ink and the bold, solid shapes in black and red. The work gains a tension by virtue of line and volume operating within their own economies of representation. Editor: It's interesting that you point out the tension, it's visually very dynamic. What purpose might these visual contrasts serve? Curator: It invites contemplation on the figure-ground relationship. Observe how the ground almost disappears, giving the forms priority. One sees a dialectic: bodies against the red/black figure. Editor: How does the materiality of the artwork—the ink, the paper—contribute to its overall effect? Curator: The choice of materials lends the work a sense of immediacy and rawness. Paper supports spontaneous form that is immediate in gesture, without laborious production, yielding semiotic possibilities. Editor: I hadn't considered the rawness coming from the media itself. I was focused on the figuration. Curator: Visual elements give clues to cultural references but, like you said, there's the figures of dance in repetitive format that also stand alone compositionally as bodies of expression. Editor: I learned so much. I never considered this degree of separation in the visual forms. It offers many routes to follow! Curator: The power of visual language resides in that kind of dynamic experience and inquiry!