Peep Show 1993

Doug Ohlson made this painting, Peep Show, with what looks like acrylic or maybe oil – you can see thin layers building up into these blocks of color. It’s like watching someone figure something out in real time, right? I feel for the artist, wondering if he knew exactly where he was going with this. Did he start with the blue, or maybe that intense black? Those sienna bars must have been crucial, holding the whole thing together. And the title, Peep Show – what does it mean? Is it about looking into something hidden? I wonder if Ohlson was thinking of Rothko and Newman, those giants of color field painting, but he’s doing something more playful here, more intimate. Painters are always talking to each other, across time, inspiring each other to see the world in new ways, to push the boundaries of what painting can be. There is a conversation happening here, for sure.