Emotion (Studies II) 1974

Gunter Fruhtrunk made this untitled painting with acrylic on canvas. When I look at this painting, the color is the first thing that hits me. It's this really saturated, almost aggressive red, and I can imagine Fruhtrunk working with it, pushing it around on the canvas, trying to get it just right. You can tell he really considered the physicality of the paint; it's not just flat, there are subtle variations in tone, like he wanted to capture the way color vibrates. That stark white stripe slicing through the lower left corner - it's like a jolt of energy, disrupting the red and giving it a sense of dynamism. It makes me think of Ellsworth Kelly, another artist who was interested in the power of pure form and color, but Fruhtrunk brings a kind of raw intensity to it that's all his own. With this painting, it feels like you're staring at a controlled explosion. Art doesn't have to spell everything out.