Auto 1982

Alvaro Lapa made 'Auto' with paint and wood, and a whole lot of looking. The way Lapa uses the black and white is so direct, each mark a decision. It's like he's thinking out loud with the brush. The surface has so much variation, you can almost feel him trying different things, layering and adjusting, building up this image from smaller parts, like a collage. Look at the little black mountain shapes sitting on the golden square. They remind me of a row of teeth, chomping down on something unseen. Then there are the vertical wooden slats, acting as some kind of support, but doing nothing. And the big field of black, which might as well be nothingness. What does it all mean? I don't know, but it’s this sense of playful mystery that makes this piece so enticing. Lapa reminds me of Philip Guston in his ability to play with abstraction. Neither artist wants us to settle on one way of seeing, they want to embrace ambiguity and the joy of seeing.