Sechs vertikale systematische Farbreihen mit orangem Quadrat rechts oben 1968

Curator: Richard Paul Lohse created "Sechs vertikale systematische Farbreihen mit orangem Quadrat rechts oben"—Six Vertical Systematic Colour Rows with an Orange Square Top Right—in 1968. It’s a print that exemplifies geometric abstraction. Editor: Right, so my first thought is Mondrian goes pop. All those delicious hard edges, but then BAM, this joyful riot of color punches you right in the eyeballs. Feels optimistic, almost aggressively so. Curator: Lohse was Swiss, deeply invested in the idea that art could contribute to social progress and collective good, ideas circulating after WWII. Geometric abstraction, for him, represented order, equality, and rationality. Editor: Which sounds so serious! But look at the playful asymmetry of it all. That rogue orange square messing with the system. It's like the visual equivalent of a really catchy, slightly off-kilter pop song. Curator: It’s interesting that you say that, since some situate it within Pop Art influences. Each block of color is distinct, flat, seemingly untouched by the artist's hand. There is something very 'factory-made' about the piece. But that may also be speaking to the post-war focus on mass production. Editor: I like the idea that these orderly grids still speak to ideas of mass production and utopian futures, even when the color story suggests such a feeling of...freedom, maybe? Almost a childlike engagement with pure color and form. It’s deceptively simple. Curator: These systematic arrangements also echoed Lohse’s deeply held political beliefs; a desire to break down hierarchies and find harmony through rational structures. The intersections are where everything happens. Editor: Yeah, I think that orange square is where my attention is drawn, isn’t it? All the cool blues and reds build to that culminating heat. Okay, Lohse, I see you trying to inject joy and organization in the universe. Curator: Well, it makes you wonder about the capacity of art to shape society for the better. The formal language may feel limited but can, even now, promote equity. Editor: Art as civic architecture – love that! Thanks for grounding my own intuitions with a broader scope of theory. Curator: Likewise! There's nothing quite like having one's thinking refreshed by someone with new insight.