Pink-Yellow Pole III 1967

Here we have what looks like a simple pink-yellow pole made by Gianni Piacentino, standing upright on a square base. I'm thinking about the artist, Gianni, and how he might have approached this piece. He probably thought a lot about form and color. That the pole is standing upright, it gives a sense of stability, but the colors, pink and yellow, are playful, kind of like a sunset or a cool modern building. I wonder if he was influenced by the Minimalists, who liked simple shapes and industrial materials. You can really see that here in the geometry of the base. The surface of the pole seems smooth and precise, almost machine-made. It invites you to reach out and touch it, feel the coolness of the metal. To me, this piece is like a question mark, like what is the bare minimum an artist can do? And it relates to earlier artists like Donald Judd who explored similar ideas.