S'invola 2007

Enzo Cucchi’s small painting presents a scene of earthy red trees with strange green foliage set against an ambiguous rusty sky. I see an openness to process in the way Cucchi’s paint handling is so straightforward. The texture of the painting has an almost chalky dryness. You can see each brushstroke distinctly, as if the painting appeared rapidly in a flurry of urgent activity. Look at the dripping green paint hanging from the trees, like verdant ectoplasm or celebratory streamers, which gives the work a celebratory quality. Are they weeping willows, or something more alien? Cucchi’s world here feels raw and elemental, like something scratched out from the earth, but also slightly theatrical. You could say there’s a kinship to the work of someone like Francis Picabia, but where Picabia is slick and elusive, Cucchi is all rough edges and heartfelt expression. To me, it’s this embrace of not knowing that makes the work so enticing.