Untitled 1990

This untitled piece by Piero Dorazio is made with what looks like stripes of watercolour paint. I find it kind of exciting, because it hints at the pure joy of mark-making. The painting is all about transparency and layering, right? I mean, look at how the colours overlap and create new shades. It feels like Dorazio wanted to show us the physicality of paint, but in a way that’s light and airy. See how the blue and yellow cross over to make green? It’s a simple gesture, but it speaks to the process of art-making as a kind of playful experiment. And the white of the surface shines through, giving everything a sense of openness. Dorazio reminds me a little of Bridget Riley, who played with similar ideas, but in a very different way. But where she is all about precision, he is all about a feeling of freedom. Neither is better, they are just different ways of approaching the same question. Which is how can painting create new ways of seeing?