Ha Ha 2016

Erik Sigerud made this painting, Ha Ha, with fluid gestures, a muted palette, and pops of bright red. You can imagine him in the studio, responding intuitively to the canvas, wiping and layering, trying to get something just right. I wonder if he was thinking about nets, about trapping or catching something. The white grid lays on top of everything like a veil, while underneath there are soft, billowy forms in grays and blues, like fog or smoke. And then these splatters of red, like wounds, or maybe just exclamation points. That one brushstroke, slashing across the top, feels so urgent. Was he trying to disrupt the calm, or did it just come out that way? It reminds me of other painters, like Gerhard Richter, who embrace chance and accident in their work. We’re all just throwing paint around, hoping something sticks, you know? The conversation goes on.