Mojabe 1966

Norman Bluhm made this painting, Mojabe, with sweeping gestural marks in black, purple, and shades of brown around a large off-white space. You can imagine Bluhm in his studio, attacking the canvas with loaded brushes, each stroke considered, adjusted, and layered. The paint looks thin in places, almost staining the canvas, while elsewhere, it's thicker and more expressive. I see a big looping curve, in ochre, that suggests movement, like a figure gesturing or maybe the sun setting on a desert landscape. I imagine Bluhm was looking at the work of painters like Joan Mitchell or maybe even de Kooning, with their energetic brushwork and bold compositions. But he’s doing his own thing, pushing and pulling at the surface to create something both dynamic and contemplative. You get the feeling that the painting emerged slowly and intuitively, a kind of dance between the artist and the canvas. And that kind of conversation keeps going, through us.