Crossbreed II 1981

Dan Christensen made this painting, Crossbreed II, with some kind of paint, probably acrylic, and a real sense of freedom. The colors are bold, but it’s the way he puts them down that grabs me. Look at that big yellow shape! It’s not just yellow; it’s a swirling, layered, almost reckless application of yellow paint. You can see the brushstrokes, the way the paint is thick in some spots and thin in others. It feels like he was really going for it, not afraid to make a mess. Then there's the pink form, striated like a muscle, the green patch is like shrubbery, so we feel the world as paint. That kind of process-oriented approach reminds me a bit of Joan Mitchell or even Helen Frankenthaler, artists who weren't afraid to let the paint do its thing. But Christensen brings his own sensibility to it, a kind of raw energy that's really exciting. It’s not about perfection, it's about the energy of the moment.