Untitled 1973

Editor: Here we have Afro's "Untitled" from 1973, rendered in oil paint and mixed media. There’s a somberness to the color palette, but the geometric forms offer a sense of disrupted balance. What do you make of the materials and their arrangement here? Curator: I am particularly interested in the labor involved in sourcing, preparing, and combining oil paint and mixed media. It asks us to consider how the physical handling of materials – the thickness of the paint, the application of each medium – embodies the artist’s ideas and intentions. Afro’s "Untitled" becomes a record of the artist’s engagement with materiality. It challenges conventional definitions of 'high' art by underscoring the significance of process and labor. How do you think the use of mixed media plays into this? Editor: I see how using mixed media pushes against the traditional view of oil painting. It suggests a breaking down, maybe a deliberate disregard for formal technique, drawing attention to the art-making process itself. Curator: Exactly. Consider, also, what wasn’t used. What other, cheaper or more mass-produced material could he have used? It allows a re-evaluation of what constitutes art, valuing experimentation and materiality over skill, and it brings labor into a visual language. Editor: That’s a good point about accessible alternatives that might devalue art even more. So the choice itself speaks to something. Curator: Precisely. I am now seeing the textures of the materials used as part of a story regarding production. We get something completely unexpected by focusing on what we thought was marginal! Editor: I agree. I never thought so much about materiality as something that could itself "say" so much! Thank you for that new insight!