Tentative 

Editor: This is a print called *Tentative* by Ion Bitzan. It's got these strong geometric shapes in bold colours—red, yellow, and black. It looks almost like a flag deconstructed, and I find the colour palette pretty striking, though a bit severe. What stands out to you about it? Curator: The colours are indeed bold, reminiscent of early 20th-century avant-garde movements like De Stijl, which heavily relied on primary colours and geometric abstraction. How do these colors make you feel? Does it remind you of any iconography of political movements perhaps? Editor: Well, it definitely has a graphic quality to it, like propaganda or corporate logos, things trying to signal authority and grab attention. Maybe that's the severity I'm picking up on. Curator: Exactly. Think about the use of these specific colours. Red can symbolize revolution, passion, and power. Yellow often represents optimism and intellect, and Black frequently denotes strength and sophistication, even darkness. These aren’t accidental choices. Ion Bitzan used abstraction to create ambiguity, prompting viewers to actively engage with the work and extract their meanings. It becomes a psychological dance with colour. Editor: A psychological dance? So the symbolism isn’t fixed but actively constructed by each viewer? Curator: Precisely! Art often functions like cultural Rorschach blots, eliciting different reactions based on individual experiences. It is a reflection of societal norms and individual memories shaping visual perceptions. Editor: I never considered how much cultural baggage each colour carries, like unwritten rules for interpretation. Thanks! Curator: It reveals that art is more than the visual, but the narratives and feelings it inspires. We learn not just from what we see, but what seeing makes us remember.