Middlesex 1975

Peter Busa made this painting, Middlesex, with an apparent interest in the material possibilities of paint. What I see here is a carefully constructed composition of flat geometric shapes. The grayscale palette gives the work a subdued, almost melancholic feel, while the clean lines and sharp edges suggest a sense of order and control. You can feel the artist’s hand at work. The texture is smooth and the colors are evenly applied, there’s a kind of quiet intensity here. The black rectangle on the lower part of the painting anchors the work, providing a grounding element that balances the lighter shapes above. While Busa is celebrated as a key figure in abstract expressionism, here I think he’s having a bit of a conversation with constructivism, where geometric abstraction is a way to think about form and space in a logical way. Ultimately, Peter Busa inspires us to see and think differently. Isn’t that wonderful?