#37 1951

James Brooks made #37 with paint, and just look at those brushstrokes. I imagine Brooks leaning in, swiping the paint across the surface, then stepping back, squinting, and diving back in again. The color palette is soft, mostly pinks and blues, but then he throws in these bold dark blue shapes, like anchors holding everything down. The surface is a battlefield of marks, some blurred and hazy, others sharp and defined. What was he thinking when he made this? Probably not about making something beautiful, but more about getting something out, laying it bare. That one long, black line slicing through the middle, that feels like a decision, a decisive act. You see echoes of Pollock's drip paintings but also hints of de Kooning’s raw energy. It’s like they’re all in conversation, these painters, pushing and pulling at each other’s ideas. Painting, it's not about answers, it’s about the questions, the back and forth, the endless possibilities.