Rush Green 1977

Frank Bowling made "Rush Green" with what looks like poured acrylic, and a whole lotta gravity. The paint isn't brushed so much as coaxed. See how Bowling let the colours blend on the canvas? It's like he's orchestrating a slow dance between pigments, a total trust in the process. It's this material honesty that gets me. The colours are gorgeous, like nature, only heightened. Look at the way the pinks and greens drip and pool, creating these vertical streaks that pull your eye down the canvas, there's an area of splattered green dots on the middle of the canvas that reminds me of a garden. There's something so immediate about "Rush Green", so rooted in the act of doing. Thinking about Helen Frankenthaler, it seems Bowling is doing a similar thing, but with his own take. It's less about control and more about letting the painting happen. Like a jazz solo, it's all about improvisation and feeling your way through it.