Parallèles bleues 

Editor: We're looking at "Parallèles bleues" by Guido Molinari. It's an acrylic painting featuring simple, vertical stripes of varying blues and blacks. I find its starkness somewhat… intense. What do you see in this piece? Curator: I see a visual manifesto of the Colour Field movement. Molinari’s work strips painting to its bare essence: color and form. The parallel lines are less about aesthetics and more about disrupting traditional power dynamics within art itself. What societal norms do you think Molinari is challenging with his work? Editor: Well, its abstraction certainly bucks the representational tradition. Perhaps he's rejecting art that reinforces established narratives, focusing instead on pure sensory experience. The blues and blacks don't depict anything literal, right? Curator: Precisely. Think of Clement Greenberg’s formalist criticism at the time. Molinari moves beyond storytelling or illusion. Instead, it presents a flat plane asserting its presence. The hard-edged stripes offer no depth, only surface. Where do you see this challenging viewers' expectations? Editor: I guess we're used to seeing art that 'says' something, tells a story, but this work seems to resist easy interpretation. It is confrontational. I originally interpreted the stripes as static but now they have dynamism! Curator: Exactly! These "simple" visual arrangements engage with ideas around structuralism and semiotics, even subtly raising questions about race through the prominence of black. This pushes against any simplistic readings, doesn't it? Editor: Yes, absolutely. It's fascinating to consider how what appears simple can be so layered in meaning. I never thought a bunch of colored stripes could engage with so many things! Curator: Indeed. By removing the representational crutches, Molinari compels us to confront the power structures inherent in how we perceive and interpret art. I look at his painting, and can imagine a call for intersectional progress. Editor: Thanks so much, I've completely changed my original read. The layering within minimalism is amazing.