Sem título 

Curator: Here we have a vibrant acrylic piece from Joaquim Rodrigo, it's titled simply, "Sem Título," meaning "Untitled" in Portuguese. The artwork is categorized as abstract expressionism. What strikes you first about this image? Editor: The energy. There’s a frenetic quality to the arrangement of color and form, like something is about to burst from the canvas. I also can’t quite place the feeling – chaotic, but controlled? Curator: An astute observation. Rodrigo's use of bold lines, particularly those thick black outlines, functions almost as a scaffolding for the internal dynamism. It holds the vibrant colour blocks in productive tension, doesn’t it? Editor: It does. Looking closer, it's easy to imagine the post-war context that gives birth to expressionism. Were these artists searching for new pictorial languages, abandoning clear, descriptive painting to focus instead on more elemental, psychological expression? Curator: Exactly. Abstract Expressionism, in its historical moment, moved away from easily-defined meaning towards conveying experience, with paint application becoming as significant as the subject. This “Untitled” composition, particularly its rhythmic application, echoes a lineage starting with artists like Kandinsky, pushing towards pure abstraction. Editor: How might a title change its interpretation, and public perception of the artwork, do you think? Curator: It would inevitably anchor the work, direct attention in ways the abstract nature currently resists. Right now, viewers engage more freely with pure color, and line—responding with emotion, sensation. To name it is to limit its reach. Editor: It does make one consider the very act of naming itself. So many artworks lack contextual information or the intention behind them. They can stand perfectly on their own regardless. Well, that has certainly changed my view of the artwork, particularly the cultural influences of abstraction. Curator: And for me, you've highlighted the essential tension in abstraction itself— the inherent social element of a profoundly subjective mode of art.