Red Dog 1961

Gene Davis made this striped painting, “Red Dog,” with acrylic on canvas. I can imagine Davis setting up his easel, squeezing out those blues and reds, and just going for it, stripe after stripe. He probably had to stand on a ladder to get to the top, and then step back to see how the colours vibrated against each other. I can feel how he was maybe thinking about Barnett Newman’s zips, those vertical lines that seem to hold a painting together, but Davis wants to let loose a bit more. It's like he's saying, "Okay, stripes, but let's make them sing!" The red really pops against all those muted blues. It’s not just a colour, it’s a whole mood. You can feel him experimenting, playing with variations, and trusting his intuition. Each stroke is a decision, a little risk taken. And he probably knew that other artists, like Bridget Riley, were doing totally different things with stripes, but they were all part of this bigger conversation about what painting could be. It’s about keeping the dialogue alive.