Dense and submarine, fans of deep teal overlap in broad, dragged strokes, thick with paint and scored with fine concentric lines like the grooves of a record. Between them, wedges of turquoise cut in cold and bright. A black slit opens at the base of the lowest fan. At the lower right the paint frays to dry red-brown bristle, with one bead of crimson. The colour is heavy, the turquoise is cold, and the edges turn dangerous.
Dense and submarine, fans of deep teal overlap in broad, dragged strokes, thick with paint and scored with fine concentric lines like the grooves of a record. Between them, wedges of turquoise cut in cold and bright. A black slit opens at the base of the lowest fan. At the lower right the paint frays to dry red-brown bristle, with one bead of crimson. The colour is heavy, the turquoise is cold, and the edges turn dangerous.
Small pits and blisters dot the teal. Hairline incisions cut through the skin of the paint in arcs, so the surface keeps scars as well as colour. Each fan has its own centre, found where the grooves tighten, and ends in a ragged edge, clean at one corner and frayed at another. The turquoise is a sharp counter, cold light between dark masses.
Roberto Caracciolo often names a painting for an action rather than a subject. Swipe is an instruction whose result stands on the canvas, each fan one act left where it ended. Richard Serra's Verb List of 1967 to 1968, a handwritten catalogue of actions to perform on a material, makes a companion text.
