Micro-Painting 1968

Gene Davis made this little painting on canvas. It’s mostly gold, with a small turquoise circle, right in the middle. Imagine Davis making this. I wonder, was he thinking big, even when he was painting small? Like, did he see this tiny piece as part of a much larger, grander vision? Maybe he wanted to pare painting down to its bare essentials: color and form. I love the simplicity, how the gold kind of glows, and the turquoise floats on the surface. It reminds me of other artists, like Agnes Martin, who found so much space and possibility in the grid. With his single circle, Davis challenges us to find a similar profundity within a small painting. And that's what painting is all about: artists in conversation, inspiring each other to see the world in new ways.