Work 1963

Tsuruko Yamazaki created this high-key coloured composition with bright, bold marks that almost vibrate off the canvas. I imagine she started with loose gestures, letting forms emerge through trial, error, and intuition. Sympathizing with the artist, I think about the materiality of paint - thick pools of orange and thin washes of pink and yellow. The texture adds depth, creating emotional and intellectual resonances, as if the artist were thinking about the same things while building up the layers. A particular flourish of blue paint seems to drip down the surface of the painting like a tear, conveying a sense of sadness or loss, but also of movement, and action. Yamazaki is in conversation with artists like Helen Frankenthaler and Yayoi Kusama, even if they never met. Each of them explores abstraction, color, and form in unique ways. Painting is an ongoing exchange of ideas across time, a form of embodied expression which embraces ambiguity. There’s no single way to look at this painting, and no fixed meaning – which makes looking at art interesting.