Public Pool for Daytime Swimming 1984

Joyce Kozloff made this pattern painting called "Public Pool for Daytime Swimming," probably with gouache, maybe watercolor, I'm not sure. Anyway, you can tell she worked hard, and the marks feel very intentional. I imagine Kozloff sitting with this color combination of bright blues and yellows and oranges. Thinking about textiles, maybe? I know she was inspired by Islamic tile patterns. The painting feels like an intimate and beautiful map or a bird’s-eye view of a floral swimming pool. I like how the painting becomes a new kind of seeing. The floral patterns and shapes, though ornate and decorative, manage to communicate something universal about the pleasures of shared space and leisure. Painting is like that, when you see the work of other artists, it’s like you’re in conversation. And that’s the public pool in painting terms, right? An exchange of ideas over time.