Untitled 1980

This untitled work was made by Luciano Bartolini, it's got these stark contrasts and symbolic forms floating around. I imagine Bartolini layering these shapes, that black form like a mountain looming up, or a figure perhaps, set against that hazy grey rectangle, you know? And then, this burst of red—a flame, or maybe a flower? There's also these curlicue gold squiggles, giving it all a decorative spin. I'm thinking of artists like Forrest Bess or Myron Stout, searching for meaning in simple forms, going deep into their own personal languages. Bartolini is really playing with the push and pull between flatness and depth, between the graphic and the symbolic. It feels like he's inviting us into his own private world, and isn't that what painting is all about? A peek into another mind...