Composición Maquinista 1957

José Pedro Costigliolo made this painting using geometric shapes and bold colours, thinking about the process of building an image from simple components. It’s a bit like making a collage, but with paint. There’s a real physicality to the way Costigliolo applies the paint. You can see the texture on the surface, especially in the way the colours but up against each other. Everything feels very deliberate and controlled, yet there's an interesting tension. The palette is restrained - reds, yellows, blues, browns and black - but these are offset by the clean lines and hard edges of the shapes. Look at the white circle near the top of the piece, with the red and black slices taken out. To me, it’s like a clock that’s been disassembled, with the hands and gears scattered around the canvas. Costigliolo reminds me of Sophie Taeuber-Arp, who also worked with geometric abstraction but there’s a uniquely machine-like quality here. Ultimately, Costigliolo's painting invites us to play with different ways of seeing, embracing the ambiguity and openness that make art so compelling.