The Rule of the Circle, The Rule of the Game 1985

Geta Bratescu made this collage, ‘The Rule of the Circle, The Rule of the Game’ with paper on graph paper, and it's all about process. The textures and colors she creates are so tactile. Look closely, and you can see the edges of the cut and torn paper. The circle feels almost architectural, like an arena. The color is opaque, giving a flat, graphic quality to the image, but the torn paper gives the image an earthy, material quality. It's this constant play between formal geometry and chaotic tearing that makes the piece so intriguing. I keep coming back to the lower right section of the circle, where the reddish and black paper meet the graph paper. Something about that stark contrast gets me. It makes me think of the collages of Matisse, who also embraced the freedom of cut paper in his later years. With Bratescu, it's never just about the end result, but also about the conversation, the back-and-forth of the making.