What's next? Laura Casini
- Matilde Gilioli
- Jun 2
- 2 min read
What we call the future will be nothing more than a new present
Title: What's next?
Artist: Laura Casini
Year: 2025
Size: 50x100 cm
Technique: Acrylic on canvas
Style: Abstract art
What's next? is the latest work by Laura Casini, a contemporary artist working in the field of abstract art. I previously wrote about her in this article:
As with all of Casini’s works, it is essential to start with the title: it is from there that the piece begins to take shape. What’s next? evokes change, fear, hope, illusion… it immediately projects us into a future dimension. And it is with this mental disposition that we must approach the paintin, as a reflection of what “what comes next” means to each of us. A concept that resonates with a kind of primordial abstraction. After all, what is the future if not a projection of our own thoughts? Nothing exists beyond the present moment, and yet we live constantly anchored to the past or dreaming of,or fearing, what lies ahead.
And this, I believe, is what the work seeks to express: illusion.
In the background, we find an almost uniform layer of icy white, resembling the surface of a mountain lake. It represents a state of comfort, an apparent peace of mind. Then, suddenly, gray clouds begin to form in the sky, disordered and threatening. Before we can even feel fear, the light returns: a bright white crack appears in the upper right corner. The wind begins to blow, and what once seemed like inert, frozen nature becomes organic matter, ready to disrupt the safe path we thought was ours. Then, once again, something unexpected breaks the stillness. But this time, it is something different: not part of nature, but something more indefinite. At first, we don’t recognize it. Then, all at once, we realize that those dark, formless stains are transforming into something precious: golden, luminous, so bright that they cast a new light across the entire scene.
What initially appeared to be a body of water disturbed by natural elements becomes something else entirely. We now see a rocky outcrop in the middle of a vast, untamed landscape, beneath a cloudy sky shrouded in a thin, mysterious, and restless mist. A white bird cuts across the horizon, swift and determined, it flies toward us, leaving behind the golden reflection of a new sun.
As in all of Laura Casini’s works, we find here a strong material component, one that draws us into what feels like a parallel dimension. Cold colors dominate the chromatic palette: tones that evoke uncertainty, vagueness, and estrangement .And finally, it is the golden mark that ignites the painting both literally and symbolically.
These precious pigments guide us in reading the artwork, helping us to interpret it and welcome it within ourselves, fully aware that what we call the future is nothing more than a new present.
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