Africa 3 1970

Robert Motherwell made Africa 3 with ink on paper, and it's all about the process. He didn't try to hide the way it was made, it's all there on the surface. Look at that incredible black ink, how it pools and spreads and drips. There's a real physicality to the medium, like it has a life of its own. The ink isn’t just a color; it's a substance, it’s a body that pushes back. See the way the ink splatters from the second shape, the one that looks like a heavy droplet, and how it contrasts with the big, looming form at the top of the piece? That little splatter is a moment of pure energy, and that's what makes the piece so alive. Motherwell’s work reminds me a bit of Franz Kline's, who was also working with black and white to make these kinds of bold, gestural marks. In the end, it's not about what the image represents; it's about the feeling it evokes.