Untitled (SF 259) 1980

Sam Francis made this untitled piece with paint, and chance, creating a symphony of colour. Look at the way the paint has been thrown, dripped and splattered; you can really feel the artist’s energy as a physical presence. Francis’s work is all about the juicy materiality of paint itself. The colours he uses are luminous, almost vibrating against each other, creating a real sense of movement. Notice how he’s left areas of the canvas bare, allowing the white to peek through and create a feeling of lightness and space, it's as if the painting is breathing. I find myself drawn to the central square, where the colours are layered. The contrast between this denser area and the more open, airy parts of the painting is really what makes this piece sing. This painting reminds me of Joan Mitchell's work, both artists are unafraid to let the paint do its thing, embracing accident and chance in the process. For both of them, ambiguity is key, inviting us to get lost in the swirls and splashes of colour, and to find our own meaning within the chaos.