Ayin 1958

Morris Louis made this painting, Ayin, with acrylic on canvas. Look at how the rivulets of paint cascade down the canvas. You can see that Louis stained the canvas rather than covering its surface, letting the material itself soak up the pigment. I can imagine the painting emerging, stripe by stripe, as the artist tilted and manipulated the canvas, allowing gravity to guide the paint's flow. It seems almost effortless. The colors themselves are muted, subdued, like rainwater viewed through a tinted window. Blues, greens, yellows, and purples blend and bleed into one another, creating soft gradations and blurry edges. There is a real sense of fluidity in the way the colors merge, like watercolors on wet paper. I think of Helen Frankenthaler, who poured paint onto canvases on the floor. There is such a generosity among painters, an ongoing conversation that transcends time and space. I love how this painting embraces process and chance. It is as if we, the viewers, are invited to complete the process of the work.