Driftingfaiththedakotawash 1989

Stanley Boxer created 'Driftingfaiththedakotawash' with what looks like layers upon layers of thin paint, scrubbed and swiped to build a shimmering surface. I can just imagine Stanley in the studio, wrestling with the canvas, adding and subtracting, letting the painting breathe and evolve. The title suggests something elemental, maybe the movement of water and faith, drifting like clouds. Look at the way he’s scratched into the surface, pulling the light through the layers—it's almost topographical, like a memory of a landscape. Then there's that big blue blob on the right; it feels like a punctuation mark, a full stop in a field of delicate marks. Boxer’s work sits within a lineage of painters like Jules Olitski, who were pushing the boundaries of color and texture. It is a reminder that artists are always in conversation with one another. The painting embraces uncertainty, doesn’t offer easy answers, and invites us to drift along with it.