Dominant-Blau 1964

Ernst Wilhelm Nay made this print, Dominant-Blau, without a date, using lithography. The whole thing feels like a glorious mess. You have these big, flat shapes of color – blue, red, a kind of murky green – all jostling for attention. It’s not about blending; it's about the pure, unadulterated joy of putting one color next to another. The black lines squiggle across the surface, doing their own thing. Look at the top left – that blue circle with the black dot. It's like an eye, staring right back at you! Is it an eye? Is it just a shape? Who cares! It's got a presence. And the way the colors are laid down, so direct, so immediate. It's like Nay was chasing after something, trying to capture a feeling more than a picture. It reminds me of Miro, or even some of the later work of Kandinsky. They were all searching for something beyond representation, something deeper. It’s a conversation with art history, a shout into the void, and an invitation to come along for the ride.