Imbarcazioni

Forms of indefinite substance, brought back by a vague memory of nature to the geometric canon (ovals, triangles, trapezoids…), vividly defined by a heavy outline, are interlocked on the horizontal plane – as though they were items from a still life. The light in the background pushes the jumble of objects forward; around the line of the horizon, it is as though a leisurely circular motion were leading them to spin on their axis
The division of space operated by Romiti in this painting would characterize his work for several years to come, at least up until the mid-1950s. He can certainly be counted among the first to attain substantial distance from the Neo-Cubist language of his initial efforts: from which he first began to detach himself in the “Macellerie” series of 1949. “Tables”, “shelves”, “ironing boards” accordingly comprise the horizontal plane on which the sparse objects are arranged, increasingly rarefied in the light that gradually reduces them to signs. And yet, despite their lack of any textual mimesis of reality, Romiti’s colours maintain an atmospheric permeability, an ability to be moved by the lights and temperatures of nature. In this way he was now closer to Corpora or Santomaso than to the Milanese exponents of Concrete Art.