Pendulum 1972

Helen Frankenthaler made "Pendulum" with dreamy color and a bold approach to process. Frankenthaler's love of process really shines through in this piece. I love how the colors wash and bleed into each other. The paint is so thin, it's almost like looking at a watercolor. You can see the canvas underneath, which gives it this ethereal, light-filled feeling. There's this one spot, near the top, where the dark purple bleeds into the lighter pink, creating this almost bruised effect. It reminds me that paintings aren't always about perfection. Sometimes, it's the imperfections that make them so beautiful, that make them so real. It feels both controlled and chaotic, which is a pretty accurate description of the act of painting, for me. Her work always reminds me a little of Joan Mitchell, in the way she fearlessly throws color onto the canvas. It's like they're both having a conversation, across time, about the joys and struggles of being a painter. It’s about embracing the messy, unpredictable nature of art.