Untitled 1973

Antonio Palolo made this Untitled painting with blocky shapes and crisp lines in a triadic palette of blue, green, and red. I imagine Palolo carefully applying each colour, thinking through how they sit next to one another, almost like arranging objects in a still life. The flat application of paint emphasizes the surface, foregrounding the material of the painting itself. The blue rectangle hovers above the green square, which sits on a series of red and orange vertical stripes. The cool detachment of the colors and the clean lines create a fascinating tension. I wonder if Palolo was thinking about Josef Albers’s colour theories, or even the hard-edged geometries of Mondrian? Artists are always in conversation with one another, picking up on ideas and pushing them in new directions. It’s a game of call and response that unfolds across decades and centuries, each artist building upon the legacies of those who came before.