Update
To Be Born in the Blue (1967): Time as Matter
Watches, washes and unstable forms turn measured time into an experience of layered, discontinuous and painterly memory.
Critical reading
In the work now recorded as To Be Born in the Blue, wristwatches reappear within unstable matter without organising a narrative. A circular structure seems to draw blue, brown and violet fields towards the centre, while objects and organic shapes belong to different layers of memory. The dial measures conventional time; the surface instead conveys a continuous, confused and immeasurable duration.
Critical aspects
The number of visual events is high and they do not all have the same compositional necessity. The centre sometimes risks becoming indistinct, while the explicit symbolism of the watch can direct interpretation too quickly. The work is most convincing when the object loses its identity and is absorbed by matter, less so when it remains isolated and immediately legible.
Assessment
The work records a phase in which figuration and abstraction are not yet alternatives. Oppo preserves recognisable nuclei but subjects them to deformation, repetition and dissolution. Its strength lies in the contradiction between the precision promised by the watches and the layered, discontinuous and distorting nature of memory.