Untitled 1957

This is one of Grazia Varisco's unnamed works, made with mixed media on canvas. The process of artmaking becomes really visible here, doesn't it? What I love is the rough texture, that gritty surface almost like looking at cracked earth. Varisco has built up layers, a physical manifestation of time and process. It looks like you could get lost in those layers of green-grey and moss, the way she combines them is almost topographic. Look at how the paint is thick in some areas, thin in others, transparent and opaque, all at once. And those scratches and lines cutting through the surface add another dimension. Varisco's work reminds me a bit of Antoni Tàpies, in that both artists embrace the materiality of paint and the beauty of imperfection. Art isn't about answers; it's about questions, about embracing ambiguity, and about the ongoing conversation between artists across time.