A Dialogue of Forms: Liam Gillick and Alan Charlton's Geometric Meditations

2 hours ago7 min read

In the pristine, white-cube environment of Naples' Alfonso Artiaco gallery, a resonant dialogue emerges between two distinct voices of contemporary art: Liam Gillick, the British conceptualist, and Alan Charlton, the reclusive master of monochrome. This exhibition is a study in contrast and harmony, where Gillick's precisely fabricated aluminum and steel structures converse with Charlton's profoundly contemplative grey canvases.Gillick, an artist known for dissecting social and industrial frameworks, presents works that resemble fragments of a modernist utopia. His geometric panels, rendered in industrial yellows, greens, and blues, evoke the language of office partitions, shelving units, and architectural models.They stand as intellectual artifacts, inviting a critique of the systems that organize our world. In quiet opposition, Charlton offers a series of grey paintings that are exercises in pure phenomenology.His practice, dedicated solely to the exploration of a single color, results in works that are as much objects as they are images. Each canvas, whether a single square or a multi-panel composition, is defined by its physical shape and the subtle, textural variations of its grey surface.This reduction to essence creates a space for sublime meditation. The curatorial power of this pairing lies in the tension between their artistic philosophies.Gillick’s work points outward, commenting on production, bureaucracy, and capital, while Charlton’s turns inward, focusing on the core of sensory perception. Color functions differently for each: for Gillick, it is a coded signifier of the corporate and industrial landscape; for Charlton, grey is a neutral field that absorbs and quiets such associations.Placed in proximity, a Gillick construction and a Charlton painting create a compelling narrative. One can see the legacy of Russian Constructivism and the Bauhaus reflected in Gillick's sleek forms, while Charlton's work resonates with the radical reductions of Kazimir Malevich and Ad Reinhardt.Together, they map the divergent trajectories of geometric abstraction—one extending into the social realm, the other retreating into the metaphysical. This is an exhibition that requires and rewards patient observation.It champions the aesthetic and intellectual rigor found in the machine-perfect finish of a Gillick bracket and the hand-wrought, luminous surface of a Charlton grey. In an era of artistic spectacle, this geometric dialogue offers a refreshingly profound and coherent visual experience, affirming the enduring power of form, line, and restrained color.

#featured

#Liam Gillick

#Alan Charlton

#Alfonso Artiaco

#geometry

#art exhibition

#dialogue

#form and color

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