Fishes 2011

Frank Bowling made this painting called "Fishes" with paint, and I can almost feel the slippery, slidy process he must have used. Look at the way the colors puddle and bleed into each other, like watercolors gone wild. The texture is thick in places, almost like cake frosting, and then thin and transparent in others, creating a real push and pull. See that cluster of yellow impasto near the top, it’s like the sun breaking through the surface of the water, casting light down on those darting red shapes. Bowling’s got this way of making the paint do things that are both intentional and accidental, and that tension is what makes the painting so alive. It reminds me of some of Joan Mitchell's later paintings, where she let the colors drip and run, embracing the chaos of the medium. It's like they’re both saying, "Hey, let's see what this stuff can do!"