Verde Azul y Negro 1958

Ramirez Villamizar made this painting called Verde Azul y Negro, with oil paint on canvas. The painting plays with simplified forms and a limited palette. The surface is flat and smooth, like a wall, and makes you wonder about artmaking as a process of construction. The shapes interlock, suggesting layers of meaning. Look at how the edges of the black form are not quite straight, how they wiggle and curve. It makes the whole painting feel more organic, less rigid. It is as though the artist is holding a kind of a conversation between hard-edged geometric forms and a more intuitive sense of shape. It makes me think of Josef Albers, another artist who explored the relationship between color and form. But, Villamizar brings something else. His work is about how you can embrace ambiguity and multiple interpretations. It’s like he’s saying, "Here, let's see what happens if..."