Waterloo 1965

Norman Bluhm made this painting, Waterloo, with thick strokes of black, white, and orange paint, building a landscape of spontaneous gestures. There’s a real physicality to the painting, isn’t there? You can almost feel the energy of Bluhm’s movements, the way he loaded the brush and flung the paint across the canvas. The colors are bold and unapologetic. The way the black paint drips down from the top, contrasting with the clean circle in the center, it's as if the whole thing is a balancing act. This painting makes me think of Joan Mitchell and her raw expressionism. Bluhm is part of an ongoing dialogue, using the language of abstraction to convey something deeply personal, a fleeting moment frozen in time. It's a reminder that art doesn't always have to make sense, sometimes it just needs to be felt.