Francesco di Georgio II 1971

Curator: This is David Gentleman's silkscreen print, Francesco di Georgio II, held here at the Tate Collections. Editor: It’s starkly geometric, almost like a simplified molecule on a field of dark chocolate. An odd juxtaposition. Curator: Indeed. Observe the interplay of positive and negative space. The white form, seemingly weightless, is meticulously rendered with subtle gradations. The cylindrical forms suggest a rational structure. Editor: But what structure? It could be a stylized snowflake, a symbol of cold, crystalline perfection. Or perhaps something more insidious, like a virus. Curator: I think you will find the interplay between line and volume, shadow and light, is quite compelling in itself. The form exists in a space where the logical and the slightly unreal meet. Editor: Still, the uniformity, the repetition…it hints at systems, beliefs, perhaps a collective identity. It sticks in the memory. Curator: Well, I find that the very austerity encourages a slower, more concentrated mode of viewing. Editor: And I find myself wondering what it truly represents, what unconscious echoes it stirs.