Tablet #91 

Curator: I am simply mesmerized by the delicate shapes in Ellsworth Kelly's Tablet #91. I am reminded of the playfulness that abstraction gives us, and how artists find the world through those new forms. Editor: There's a visual diary feeling to this, like sketches for stained glass or mosaic work. The geometric abstraction with its dance of blues, reds, and blacks is at once contained and full of unleashed, primal energy. I see hieroglyphs of a secret language trying to take shape. Curator: Yes, you’re right; it definitely seems to be in the stage of constant questioning of possibilities; a meditation on form. The artist used watercolor, but it’s the forms themselves that seem to carry such depth, and are allowed to live within our consciousness. It’s about how forms affect you more than it is about him, don’t you think? Editor: Absolutely. Kelly captures those perfect, Platonic ideals behind mundane, everyday items. These colour combinations carry so much meaning – a dark blue, maybe the night, the mystery, the unknown. Then bursts of fire red, a jolt into life. The arrangement and grouping suggest chapters, each its own distinct mood. It does read as a map, as much as a collection of independent works. Curator: I think you hit on the head there – a map, definitely! In that way, one can't help but notice that each form acts as a character in the play; some support the others and some exist solely within their own vacuum. In the end, isn’t that what is so magnetic? It mirrors existence! Editor: It is! It's a reminder that sometimes the greatest power exists in the simple act of observation. The artist provides this incredible journey for us from just colors and simple shapes!