Elements in Movement 1968

Curator: Right now, we’re standing in front of Camille Graeser’s “Elements in Movement,” painted in 1968 using acrylic on canvas. It’s an intriguing exploration of color and form. My first thought when seeing it for the first time? Restrained playfulness! Editor: I feel that. Immediately, I see those hard edges, and yet there's a real sense of floating—almost like geometric shapes in a child's mobile. But tell me more about the movement aspect suggested in its title? What moves here? Curator: Precisely. I wonder if it’s movement, both the visible shift within each form as the colored segments rearrange themselves, but also, if you notice the relation to other images from this time, you are witnessing its dialogue with an entire aesthetic program based around kinetic forms and the development of art from pure mathematical calculation. Editor: Ah, I see. The dialogue is what drives its internal balance: for me it's also about the interplay between these symbolic geometric forms and a void. I'm really thinking of Jung here: shadow, containment, potential… all these archetypes jump to my mind. Curator: Absolutely, there's a lot of potential here. Although on the surface the painting looks uncomplicated. There is something playful about those blocks. Each with its own symbolic weight—almost totemic in their placement. Like elements in ritual… Editor: A perfectly curated silence. Which really lends itself well to an atmosphere and the idea that something bigger, beyond just the colour blocking is coming to our eye, and this bigger movement has just paused long enough for us to admire it. A really insightful use of pictorial devices for those about to embark on such journeys, it feels rather… inviting! Curator: Indeed! These seemingly simple shapes carry surprising depth. Graeser has definitely left us much to contemplate in the stillness of his forms and a clear reminder of everything’s interconnected potential for evolution.