Study for the Mural for the Atlantic Reachfield Corporate Office 1980

Editor: This is Mathias Goeritz’s "Study for the Mural for the Atlantic Richfield Corporate Office" from 1980, a mixed-media relief sculpture. The repetition of these semi-circular shapes gives it a sort of lunar, almost melancholic feeling. What do you make of it? Curator: Lunar, yes! It whispers of tides, cycles, of things emerging and receding. The geometric abstraction, those crisp semi-circles in the off-white field, they could be echoes of architecture, or perhaps primordial forms rising from the depths. Notice how the texture shifts with the light – the piece breathes! What kind of conversation might be happening between this “mural study” and corporate space it was intended for? Editor: Interesting thought, corporate space wasn't exactly a place of 'breath'. To me, the semi-circles could suggest brokenness or incompleteness, amplified by the repetitive nature, creating a sense of almost oppressive order. Curator: Oppressive! Ah, I see it now! A disrupted order… Perhaps Goeritz is playfully subverting the corporate expectation of rigid structure. Those imperfections, that asymmetry... a gentle rebellion baked right into the design. Does that resonate differently now? Editor: It does! Thinking about it as a "gentle rebellion" gives the piece a totally different dynamic. Curator: Exactly! Art often holds multiple truths at once, you know? The dance between form and context – that's where the magic happens, and where we, as viewers, become participants in its evolving story. Editor: I never considered a relief as holding such layered perspectives! Curator: See! There’s a kind of delicious complexity that even studies like this can offer.