Escala de cor #17 2008

Editor: We're looking at "Escala de cor #17," a 2008 acrylic on canvas piece by Pedro Calapez. It's composed of five horizontal rows of alternating red and blue squares. It reminds me of a deconstructed flag. How do you interpret this work from a formalist perspective? Curator: What immediately strikes me is the chromatic intensity. Note how the artist modulates the saturation of each square. How does this fluctuation between near-identical colour fields affect your perception? Editor: I see what you mean! Some blues are deeper, more matte, than others, which appear brighter, more reflective. And it is similar with the reds... I suppose it keeps the eye moving, disrupting the grid. Curator: Precisely. The subtle imperfections in the application, those visible brushstrokes, are essential too. It disrupts the sterile perfection one might associate with geometric abstraction, introducing a haptic quality, don't you agree? Editor: Yes, I see it now! The painting isn't just about color; it’s about the texture and the process of applying the paint itself. That makes it more… human. What a lovely contradiction. Curator: Indeed. We see a structured system undermined by the materiality of its execution. It becomes a meditation on the nature of order and its inevitable entanglement with imperfection. It asks, can pure geometric forms ever truly exist outside of artistic conceptualization? Editor: That's fascinating. I initially saw it as a simple pattern, but focusing on the materiality gives it such depth. I never realized the degree to which surface application could affect our perception of a work! Curator: Art invites questions about seeing and perceiving, and as we see today, its ability to spark dialogue makes it transformative.