Red Dog 1961

Gene Davis created 'Red Dog', a striking painting of vertical stripes. The way he's put these stripes down, it’s all about the doing. Like, what happens when you just keep repeating a simple move over and over? It's almost meditative, right? The surface has this cool, even texture. The stripes of dark blues and blacks that take up most of the space, they’re not shouting, but they're definitely present. And then, bam, that red section! It's not just red, it’s a whole range of reds, shifting and vibrating against those cool darks. It’s like a jolt, a pulse. Look closely, and you can see the little imperfections, maybe a slight wobble in a line. Those are the moments where you feel the artist's hand, the realness of the process. Davis reminds me a bit of Agnes Martin, in the way he uses repetition to create these fields of color that just buzz with energy. But where Martin is all about the whisper, Davis is more of a shout. And isn’t that what art is all about, different voices, all saying something different, but all part of the same conversation?