Ups And Downs #1 2013

Kaws made this painting, "Ups And Downs #1," sometime around now, with acrylic on canvas. It’s this electric field of color, not quite representational, but not purely abstract either. You can almost imagine him in his studio, layering those high-key colors one after another, feeling his way through the composition. There is this big pink shape and the light blue Xs on top. This is one painting that seems to revel in the materiality of paint itself. The surface looks so smooth and pristine. I wonder if it was taped down like in a printmaking process? It’s funny, I think the best paintings are the ones where the artist sort of lets go, lets the painting take over, almost like automatic writing. And for me, that’s the conversation that painting is all about – it’s not about answers, but about keeping the questions alive.