Quasi una spirale 2008

Giorgio Griffa made this painting, Quasi una spirale, on raw canvas, and you can see the weave right there, part of the image. Look at the way he lays down those colors – so direct, like simple gestures, and how those gestures build a form – the spiral. The colours are not fully opaque, they are transparent, and they interact and merge with the canvas. It’s all about the materiality. You can see the layers, the build-up, and where the paint pools. The rawness of the canvas and the simplicity of the lines makes me think of Cy Twombly, but in a more restrained, mathematical way. Notice the breaks in the lines, how the spiral is not quite complete, so the eye is invited to participate in the process. It’s like Griffa is saying, "Here’s the beginning of an idea; you take it from here." The work invites you in, it does not complete itself.