Untitled (Edge) 1966

Editor: So, this is Sam Francis' "Untitled (Edge)," painted in 1966 using acrylics, seemingly an exercise in colour-field painting. It has an airy, almost unfinished quality, like looking through a brightly coloured window. What catches your eye? Curator: The most striking thing is precisely what isn't there. That central void, that blank space. It’s a powerful symbol, reminiscent of the tabula rasa, the blank slate. But does it really present nothing? Think about the tradition of the mandala; is that emptiness an invitation, a space for contemplation? Editor: That’s an interesting take. I was more focused on the colours. Curator: Of course! Consider the psychology of colour; how might the artist be playing with our emotional responses to the vibrancy of the blues and yellows against the stark white? Are these colours clashing or harmonizing, and what impact does that have on the overall reading of the work? Also, the impasto application method! It almost feels like the work isn't a void but an extraction of something from within, not representative of form but rather of internal landscapes. Editor: I see what you mean, and it makes me consider the ‘edge’ in the title. Curator: Indeed! "Edge" can represent more than just a border. Consider liminal spaces in rituals; thresholds of transformations and how a concept or belief is taken beyond, not kept within... a type of transcendence through abstraction? Is it the boundary between the conscious and unconscious? What do you think the 'edge' represents to you now? Editor: Well, it certainly sounds like the artist packed a lot more meaning into this seemingly simple work than I initially thought! I'm going to look at abstraction a little differently now. Curator: Exactly! The apparent simplicity of form gives rise to expansive symbolic possibilities and deeper questions about art and memory.