Middlesex 1975

Peter Busa made this painting, Middlesex, and it's all about keeping it simple with colors and shapes; seeing what happens when they meet on the canvas. The painting's got these big rectangles in blacks, whites, and grays. When you get up close, you can see how the paint's been smoothed on. It's not too thick, but you can still sense the hand in it, the way Busa guided the brush. It's like he's thinking about how the colors talk to each other; how the black kind of swallows the light, while the white bounces it back. Look at where the gray meets the white. There's a softness there, like a whisper. The black at the bottom anchors everything. It reminds me of those early abstractionists, like Malevich, who were trying to strip painting down to its bare bones. But Busa adds his own flavor, making it feel personal and alive.