Dynamic Instruction 2013

This is a painting by Rodrigo Franzao, made perhaps with acrylics and collage. I imagine the artist shifting around shapes on a yellow ground, trying out the composition, changing it up, until it finally comes together. See how the brushstrokes are kind of loose and drippy, almost watery, as if the paint was applied in layers, each one influencing the one before. There are all these colorful bands around the edges of the shapes in blues and greens and oranges, and then these flat hard-edged colored shapes cutting through, that interrupt those gestural marks. Look at that big curve, like an eyebrow, or maybe the outline of a wonky heart. It’s this mix of fluidity and geometry that makes the painting so dynamic and lively. I wonder if Franzao was thinking about Matisse's cut-outs when he made this? Or maybe the way a collage can be both flat and dimensional at the same time? Painting, you know, it's like having a conversation across generations. Each artist riffing on what came before, bringing their own slant. It’s all one big, beautiful, messy experiment.