Straw 1982

Milton Resnick made this painting called "Straw" with what looks like oil paint, and, man, is it layered. The surface is thick, like a swamp of color. Look how he's built it up! You can almost feel the brushstrokes, the way the paint sort of clumps and scatters. There's this push and pull, a real dance between blues and greens, with little flecks of yellow peeking through. It's like Resnick was digging into the canvas, searching for something. I'm thinking of Joan Mitchell, another painter who knew how to wrestle with color and texture. Both of them show that art isn't just about pretty pictures; it's about the messy, beautiful process of trying to make sense of the world. "Straw" is all about the search, and the never-ending conversation that artists have with each other, across time and space.