Il mare dei Caraibi 1967

Antonio Corpora made Il mare dei Caraibi – that’s The Caribbean Sea – in 1969, with paint of some kind, probably oil, on something – maybe canvas or board. There’s a real sense of speed here, and of a quick, all-over application of paint. The surface is a mass of brushstrokes, red and blue mostly, with other colours peeking through. It feels like Corpora really went for it! There are a lot of verticals, but they never quite resolve into a grid. And the horizontals are kind of wonky. It feels like a half-remembered image, a sense of place, rather than a literal depiction. The colours are interesting: they evoke the sea, but also sunsets, and maybe even the bright colours of the buildings you might see on the shore. The dark shapes at the top read as a boat perhaps, but that could just be wishful thinking. Corpora was part of an abstract movement in Italy, and you can see him here, having a conversation with the American Abstract Expressionists, but in his own, very particular voice.