No. 40 1949

This small painting, No. 40, was made by Forrest Bess with oil paint on canvas. It's a mostly monochromatic composition, featuring a graphic division between black and white. I imagine Bess making this, feeling his way through shapes and ideas. The painting feels so immediate, right? Like he grabbed a brush and just went for it, almost like automatic writing. It's really something to see how the shapes almost float on the surface, like symbols from a dream. I wonder what he was thinking when he made that bold stroke between the black and the white sections? Bess, like many other painters, was deeply engaged with the act of mark-making, pushing and pulling at the boundaries of representation. I think that is because artists are constantly inspiring each other's creativity. His paintings invite us to embrace uncertainty, allowing for multiple interpretations.