Come l'acca 2007

Enzo Cucchi made this little painting, "Come l'acca," with what looks like quick strokes of oil paint. It's got this striking palette of yellow, blue, and earthy tones. I can imagine him making it, almost like a snapshot of a dream. There’s a donkey, and someone in a chair looking at a computer screen—a very contemporary scene, actually! The brushwork is free, like he’s sketching with paint. It reminds me of other Italian painters of his generation, who embraced a kind of raw, expressive figuration, sort of turning their backs on conceptual art. That blue figure, so stark against the yellow ground—is he supposed to be inspired, bored, or alienated? It's so ambiguous, like a half-remembered thought. The colours and strange composition feel so unresolved. It’s like Cucchi is pulling things from all over the place to ask us: what does it mean to be alive now?