Small painting ll 1964

Edward Avedisian made this ‘Small painting ll’ using acrylic on canvas. It’s basically a big yellow field with some juicy shapes pushing forward. Imagine Avedisian in his studio, wrestling with this circle, trying to get it just right. There's the lovely blue ring, like a portal, framing those stripes of orange, green, and black. He's playing with the contrast between the solid yellow and the textured center, probably thinking about color and form, and how they vibrate together. I bet he was after a simple, impactful statement. Avedisian's got this knack for making hard-edged abstraction feel so warm. It reminds me a little of Kenneth Noland's targets, but with more feeling, maybe. Anyway, seeing painters like Avedisian reminds me that we're all in this conversation together, batting ideas back and forth across time. Painting can be so open, so generous, you know?