Untitled 1956

Curator: Lolo Soldevilla, a prominent figure in the Cuban concrete art movement, created this untitled piece in 1956. It's a rather compelling arrangement executed using watercolor and acrylic paint. Editor: Immediately striking! There’s a curious sense of calculated chaos—geometric shapes scattered across the tan ground, but tied together with fine lines. The material seems almost aged. Does it signal a link between the industrial age and natural cycles, creating the sensation of witnessing something once vibrant, now slowly becoming obsolescent? Curator: An astute observation. The lines do suggest connection, perhaps the rational networks overlaid upon our chaotic world. Consider the circle: it has ancient roots as a symbol of wholeness, of cosmic unity. And Soldevilla places these circles as if they are components in some complex piece of machinery or map. Editor: Yes, I see that, like celestial gears turning silently. But why these pastel tones against the faded background? The overall chromatic sparseness forces attention to the precise placement of these shapes on the pictorial plane. A formal decision that seems highly self-aware. It makes one focus more keenly on the relationships of each geometrical mass to its partners. Curator: And yet, that seemingly “simple” composition belies a deeper cultural resonance. Cuba in the 1950s was a society on the cusp of revolution. Soldevilla, as an artist deeply engaged with her time, subtly channels these tectonic societal shifts through seemingly abstract forms, using geometry to propose new ways to map reality. It's like reading social change encoded into a pattern. Editor: So, while the arrangement of geometric components gives the immediate sense of coolness or impassivity—particularly within the broader history of Abstraction—you find evidence of turmoil coded within that placid surface? I find myself wanting to rearrange these blocks. It feels unstable somehow, although that instability seems subtly calculated to make one think harder. Curator: Exactly. Soldevilla isn't merely creating aesthetically pleasing forms; she's constructing visual metaphors for a society in flux. This artwork makes the unseen seen and suggests new ways to understand collective social experience. Editor: Well, regardless of the artist's conscious intention, this interplay of line, form, and color delivers a composition that lingers in the mind. Curator: Yes, a compelling snapshot into a particular moment—frozen—in visual form.