Hairstring Skirts 2008

Makinti Napanangka painted this, Hairstring Skirts, with what looks like acrylic on canvas, and you know, just looking at it, I get this sense of rhythm, of something being built up line by line. The material quality here is key, the way the off-white paint sits on top of the dark red, slightly wobbly, organic. It's not precise, and that's what makes it feel so alive! Check out the top left corner, see how the white line almost trails off, gets thinner, then thicker again? That kind of vulnerability, that willingness to let the paint do its thing, is really compelling. I see this and it reminds me of Agnes Martin and her stripes, but where Martin is so cool and precise, Napanangka has this raw, almost punk energy. It's like she’s saying, “Here’s the structure, but let’s see what happens when we mess with it, when we let the hand lead the way.” I love that kind of attitude.