Lost In Rio De Janiero 

Editor: This is “Lost in Rio De Janiero” by Ronnie Landfield, created with mixed media techniques, including what appears to be watercolor. The composition gives me this hazy, dreamlike feeling... a memory perhaps? How do you interpret this work? Curator: I see the abstraction not just as a formal technique, but as a reflection of Landfield's engagement with place, and displacement. "Lost in Rio" hints at a colonial past, given the name—how might the very act of naming and representing a location reflect power dynamics? Consider who is naming, and whose experiences are being foregrounded? Editor: That's interesting. So you see the title as almost a lens to examine the painting through? Curator: Precisely. And the “lost” aspect. Abstraction, in this context, becomes a way of refusing a singular, authoritative view. Instead, the layered textures and colors suggest the complexities and multiple perspectives inherent to any place, particularly one with a fraught history like Rio. What specific visual elements contribute to this sense of ambiguity? Editor: I guess the blurry edges, the lack of defined forms…it feels like everything is in flux. Curator: And how might that reflect the social and political realities of Rio de Janeiro, both then and now? The history of Brazil is one of slavery, racism, class division. Editor: It reframes my initial reaction. It's not just a dreamy landscape. Curator: It's a loaded landscape, hinting at histories often erased. Perhaps Landfield is urging us to confront what’s lost or deliberately obscured. It really opens my mind to new aspects of a beautiful abstraction, doesn't it?