Irua 1958

Curator: Before us is Olle Baertling’s “Irua,” an acrylic on canvas completed in 1958. Its geometric forms certainly command attention. Editor: Yes, my immediate response is its startling flatness. The stark angular shapes in bold colors lack any modeling or depth, almost rejecting traditional painting’s illusionistic space. Curator: Indeed, Baertling’s strategic use of sharply delineated lines dictates the entire composition. It directs our eye across a segmented, almost fractured picture plane. He emphasizes line as an autonomous element. Editor: It’s worth noting Baertling’s methods, the way he’s applied thin layers of pigment, ensuring these shapes appear deliberately industrial and machine-made. This is a significant move away from the artist’s hand; Baertling almost vanishes within the manufacturing process. What about this choice of medium tells us of an attempt to find new contexts? Curator: Perhaps that allows a space to consider how these colors interact, the tension of the cool blues and greens against the dominant red, offset by stark blacks. Editor: I suppose if we consider abstraction beyond mere style, it emerges as a method reliant on production, as well as deconstruction, becoming representative of the shifts that are shaping social spheres and power dynamics. Curator: I find the stark linearity creates an intense, if carefully controlled, dynamism. The angles don’t so much resolve into a composition as reverberate within the viewer. The angles push and pull on the space that contains them. Editor: Viewing "Irua" through this lens of industrial processes reminds us of the artist’s role. Their role transcends expression and delves into the labor and technology inherent to producing a flat plane from pigments in synthetic suspensions, with deliberate intention. Curator: It certainly gives one plenty to consider, looking beyond the immediate aesthetic appeal, toward the language embedded within those deceptively simple shapes. Editor: An important turn to have when considering this painting.