Sea Phantoms 1952

William Baziotes conjured up this painting, Sea Phantoms, using oil, probably sometime in the 1940s. The palette is really restrained, blues and blacks mostly. It makes me think about the process of mixing color, how the feel of one hue can be transformed by another, often unexpected result. The surface has a velvety texture. You can see these elongated, dark shapes reaching up from the depths. Are they plants, or some sort of sea monster? Above, there are these soft, rounded forms that could be clouds, or more phantoms. On the right side, see that small, glowing orb with delicate lines radiating out from it? It’s like a point of focus, a source of light in this otherwise murky world. Baziotes was part of the Abstract Expressionist movement, along with folks like Rothko and Pollock. I wonder if he ever looked at Yves Tanguy, who painted these surreal underwater landscapes. But Baziotes is his own thing, he reminds us that art isn’t about answers, but about embracing the mystery.