Untitled (SF55-003) 1955

Sam Francis made this untitled work with paint, probably on paper, using a really gorgeous saturated palette. It's like he's letting the colors breathe and talk to each other. The watery pools of royal blue are the stars here, thick and juicy in places, thin and transparent in others. See how the white of the paper peeks through, creating these electric edges? Then there are the splatters of red and green, like little rebellious accents. Look closely, you can almost feel the gesture of his hand, the flick of the wrist as he let the paint fly. That big blue mass in the center feels like a deep breath, or maybe a bruise, but a beautiful one. Francis reminds me a bit of Helen Frankenthaler, both artists unafraid to let the paint do its thing, to embrace chance and accident. It’s a reminder that art is never really finished, just abandoned in an interesting state.