URBAN SCREENS Exp43 2017

Alfio Giuffrida's "Urban Screens Exp43" is a painting of flat planes and household objects, made with muted acrylic paint. The color palette is soft, almost like a faded memory, with the lavender pinks and indigos feeling both familiar and distant. The painting is all about process and the materiality of paint, even though at first it looks quite flat. If you look closely, especially at the edges of the forms, you can see where one color meets another with a subtle texture. There's a real sense of the artist working through layers, building up the image bit by bit. Take a look at the cool blue square at the top right; the opaque matte surface has a handmade feel. Giuffrida's work reminds me a little of Giorgio Morandi's still lifes, but instead of bottles and vases, we have the mundane objects of modern life. Both artists share an interest in the poetry of everyday forms, inviting us to see beauty in the simplest things, recognizing that art is a constant conversation across time. It's not about answers but about opening up questions.