Untitled (from Collection Resonance) 2011

Monique Orsini made this untitled painting, with its dominant reds and greens, through a series of instinctive gestures. I can just imagine her in the studio, maybe with some music on, stepping back and forth, going with the flow. The textures are so important here; you can almost feel the canvas, sense the push and pull of the brush. Look at that bold stroke of dark red, how it kind of bleeds into the green – it's like she's letting the colors mingle and dance. Maybe Orsini was thinking about nature, or maybe just about the pure act of painting itself. It's got that juicy, drippy quality like Helen Frankenthaler, but with its own kind of free spirit. Painters like Orsini keep the conversation going, showing us that a painting can be a record of a feeling, a question, and a moment all at once.