Untitled 1969

Here's an Untitled painting by Sam Francis, and right away, the brushstrokes pull you in. It's got this chromatic border, a frame of blues, reds, and greens, surrounding a big white nothing. I bet Francis was thinking about edges, boundaries, and what happens when you contain a space. The paint is thin, almost watery in places, bleeding into the canvas. Look at that dribble of red, and the splatters of blue, each gesture a little accident that becomes part of the whole thing. I’m reminded of Joan Mitchell, another painter who knew how to let color sing. Francis made lots of these kinds of paintings, and seeing them together you begin to see the possibilities of negative space. The conversation between artists never ends, and whether they know it or not, they are constantly building on each other's ideas. It’s a form of embodied expression, an ongoing, messy, and beautiful dialogue across time.