Azzurro 1997

Agostino Bonalumi made this azure-colored piece, ‘Azzurro,’ with shaped canvas and vinyl tempera. I can imagine him stretching the canvas, maybe even inhaling as he pulled, and securing it in place to create these swelling forms, like the breath is held inside. That uniform blue is so key. It’s cool, serene, and a little bit melancholic. I’m thinking about other artists who have worked with color and form like this, maybe Lucio Fontana, who punctured and slashed his canvases. But Bonalumi is doing something different. He's not breaking through, but building up. See how these bulges create shadows and highlights on an otherwise flat plane? It’s a subtle dance between two and three dimensions. It's also got a playful quality—almost cartoonish. It invites you to run your hands all over it! I think all artists are in conversation with each other, across time. Each piece builds on what came before, pushing boundaries, questioning norms, and offering new ways of seeing. We each respond in our own way, but the dialogue keeps evolving, and that’s what makes art so exciting.