Untitled 1989

Here we have an untitled work made by Sam Francis, and it feels like a visual explosion captured on paper. Just imagine the energy it took to create this! There’s this dynamic interplay of colours: blues, reds, yellows, all dancing around, punctuated by these bold, dark, gestural marks. You can almost see Francis in the act of painting, shifting and improvising as the piece comes into being. I mean, what was he thinking when he flicked that paint? The paint looks thin in places, almost like a watercolour, allowing the white of the paper to breathe through. This creates a feeling of lightness and transparency, yet the overall effect is super intense. These are the kinds of paintings that remind me we're all in a conversation with each other, across time, inspiring each other's creativity. It's like a reminder that painting is a form of embodied expression, embracing ambiguity and uncertainty, allowing for multiple interpretations.