Grüner Kern 1971

Max Bill made this painting, Grüner Kern, with oil on canvas and the colors are laid out with the kind of precision that makes you think about math. But when you get up close, the texture is anything but precise. You can see the little brushstrokes, the way the paint is kind of thick in some places and thin in others. It's like he wanted to show you that even in something that looks so orderly, there's still a human hand at work. I'm drawn to the lower right, where the burgundy square bleeds into the black lozenge. Bill was really into geometry, and you can see that in his sculptures too. But this painting makes me think of Josef Albers, with the way he played with color and shape. It's like they were both trying to figure out how to make something that was both simple and complicated at the same time.