Negativo-Positivo 1953

Bruno Munari made ‘Negativo-Positivo’ with what looks like flat blocks of colour, probably in acrylic or gouache. The process of artmaking is right there on the surface; it’s not hidden at all. The colours are a bit like a child's building blocks: a sunny yellow, a bright red, and a solid black, each bumping up against the other. Look how the red rectangle hovers over the yellow, casting its weight, while the black square sits snugly in the corner. The paint is opaque, dense. It doesn’t feel like there’s a lot of mixing, more like a laying down, each colour claiming its space. There’s something almost playful in the way these shapes interact, a bit like Ellsworth Kelly, but maybe with more humor. It feels like a conversation about space, about what's there and what isn't, reminding us that art doesn’t have to spell everything out, it can leave room for our eyes to wander and wonder.