At first glance it seems Marco Tirelli’s work would fit within a number of familiar art-historical categories; the work could be simultaneously described as formalist, realist, minimalist, conceptual, and abstract. But, of course, this is only at first glance. For if the artist, and the painter in particular, sets in motion a “second sight”— to use a phrase coined by Franz Marc—then the viewer also needs a “second sight” in order to interpret the work of art in question.

In Tirelli’s case, those art-historical categories, while remaining important elements in the artist’s formative background,