La composizione TA 1916

Carlo Carra made La composizione TA with oil on canvas and, boy, it's a trip. There’s a geometric jumble, with letters and architectural forms jammed together, and it looks like the surfaces have been scratched and scrubbed. This isn't about showing off fancy brushwork, it's about a process of building up and breaking down. Look at the way the blues in the window frame are scumbled, almost like a fresco, like he’s coaxing the image out of the material. The paint isn't trying to trick you into thinking it’s something else, it's just paint, doing its thing. Then there's that strange, dark void in the background. Is it a shadow, or just a big, fat nothing? That ambiguity is the heart of it, right? It’s like Carra is saying, "Here's a world, but you gotta figure it out for yourself.” Carra's work reminds me of Giorgio de Chirico, with the same strange, unsettling juxtapositions. They're both dealing with the mystery of objects, and how things aren't always what they seem. And that's what keeps me coming back. It's a puzzle, but a beautiful one.