For The Gypsy and His Daughter 1985

Ronnie Landfield made *For The Gypsy and His Daughter* and you can see how the colours are allowed to bleed and blend, creating these soft transitions that feel really process-oriented. I love the way that Landfield has embraced the materiality of paint. The central form is built up in layers of transparent watercolour washes, which give it a luminosity and depth. You can see the brushstrokes and the way the paint has been allowed to pool and drip. In contrast to this softness, the geometric grid is made with crisp straight lines, which feels so different. Look at the feathery edge of the red form, where the color fades into the yellow background, like a sunset or a memory. I'm reminded a little of Helen Frankenthaler’s soak-stain paintings, but Landfield's use of geometric structure is all his own. Ultimately, the work embraces a kind of visual poetics, inviting us to bring our own stories and interpretations to it.