Byzantium 

Editor: So, this is Miriam Schapiro’s *Byzantium*, created with acrylic on canvas. Looking at it, the sharp angles and bold colors give it such a striking, almost jarring energy. It's very different than a lot of what we've been seeing. How do you interpret this work? Curator: *Byzantium* seems less about a literal depiction and more about conjuring a feeling, a symbolic resonance. The geometry evokes the architectural grandeur often associated with Byzantium. Think about the mosaics, the soaring domes - but here, translated into this visual language of shape and color. It’s a cultural memory made abstract. Editor: That's interesting. It feels almost aggressively modern to me. Does the title contradict that sense? Curator: Perhaps "contradict" is too strong. Think of Byzantium, not just as a place and time, but as a wellspring of artistic and spiritual symbols. What visual cues do you recognize? Colors maybe, the arrangement of forms? The black background acting as ground, against these forms? Editor: I see the geometric forms, but the color choices seem so… primary. I am also distracted by the feeling of shallow space: where some blocks feel like they project outwards while other colors give the impression of flatness. It's confusing, yet strangely pleasing. Curator: Indeed. It’s the tension between flatness and implied depth that’s crucial. Colors also function as symbols, of spiritual concepts such as those found within Orthodox icon painting; Schapiro's arrangement offers a different type of illumination. Do you notice how they interact, how they push and pull the viewer's eye? Editor: Now that you mention it, I do see a push and pull. It almost feels like she is layering cultural memory on top of a modernist vocabulary. Curator: Precisely. It’s like she’s unearthing something ancient, but through a contemporary lens, transforming memory into something entirely new. Editor: I never thought about it that way. It seems Schapiro's 'Byzantium' offers an unique viewpoint that requires delving into both the symbolic and abstract facets of visual language. Curator: And how different stylistic traditions influence one another in unpredictable and exciting ways!