Contrariete 

Curator: Welcome. Before us, we have Paolo Boni’s "Contrariete", an intriguing work executed in print, pencil, and watercolor on toned paper. Editor: It's like looking at geological strata, but fragmented and almost ghostly. There’s a lightness to it, even with the dense geometric shapes. What strikes me is the evident hand of the artist in rendering and piecing this all together. Curator: Absolutely. Consider Boni's positioning within a lineage of abstract expressionism. How does this fit, or perhaps challenge, conventional narratives around artistic production? There is an ambiguity here in the way it exists. Editor: It does defy a straightforward reading, doesn't it? Look at the visible pencil strokes, the layering of textures. This isn't just about the image; it's about the *making* of the image, laid bare for us. We see labor; we perceive artistic intention with immediacy, do we not? Curator: And I'm compelled to wonder how its reception changed across the decades, from a period so focused on originality and heroic gestures to our own time, with a much more knowing public eye. It provokes questions about art’s cultural work. Editor: And think about the materials themselves—pencil, watercolor, paper. These are humble, accessible mediums. There is nothing lavish. The artistic process, as made apparent, relies upon everyday means, elevated to abstraction by Boni's skilled manipulations. It also shows how traditional materials remain vital. Curator: The "toned paper" is very intriguing here. Consider the context in which such a selection was, perhaps, more available or more commonplace, shifting how the work would have initially been encountered. It highlights questions surrounding value and aesthetics. Editor: It all underscores that tension, right? The humbleness and the intellectual exercise. I love that juxtaposition. I see how material and concept become truly inseparable here. It's not only the finished form, but that beautiful, raw materiality which fascinates us. Curator: Agreed. Boni encourages that precise mode of inquiry and forces us, productively, to keep thinking about the art object, the art world, the culture, at the time of the work’s release—and our current position relative to it. Editor: Indeed. "Contrariete" reminds us to appreciate not only what we see, but what it took to make it and why the method has so much value.