Net 2016

Rodrigo Franzao made this object, Net, maybe recently, and with paper, paint, canvas and what looks like wire. It’s not just an image, right? It’s got this handmade quality. Like an artifact. There’s that wire net, and I can see a square canvas peeking through with this circle of what looks like torn paper - it reminds me of that saying, the artist has to destroy the work to save it! I can imagine Rodrigo making it. A big mess! Destroying, collaging, painting, almost in conversation with artists like Kurt Schwitters. This net shape—the title makes me think of a fishing net, something that catches and holds, but is also a kind of absence. And then that inner painting, so mysterious and hidden, almost like it's been caught in the net, or is it something else? It's like he's trying to push the boundaries of painting, asking, "What can a painting be?" I love that.