Adam's Rib 1980

Gene Davis made "Adam's Rib" with what looks like watercolour or maybe thin acrylic on paper, and it's all about the rhythm of these vertical lines. I love how the colours shift; some are cool blues and greens, others lean toward warmer grays. Each stripe seems to breathe differently, and it reminds me that making art is a conversation between control and letting go. Look how the paint application varies. Some stripes are solid, while others have this beautiful, washy quality, almost like he's teasing the surface. It's as if Davis is exploring the very materiality of paint, its ability to be both present and elusive. There’s one stripe slightly off-kilter that seems to disrupt the order, and yet, it’s crucial to the whole composition. It suggests that art, like life, embraces imperfections and deviations. Davis's work reminds me a little of Agnes Martin's quiet, meditative grids, but with a funkier, more improvisational vibe. It’s about finding beauty in the subtle variations of a repeated form.