Green Tilted Ellipse - Gray Frame 1989

Robert Mangold made this painting, Green Tilted Ellipse-Gray Frame, with paint on canvas, but it’s not just paint, it’s an idea worked out through a process. I think his paintings are a lot like drawings because they are so pared back. You can really see the physicality of the medium here. The paint isn't applied thickly, it’s more like thin layers, almost like a stain. Look how the gray frame is made up of different geometric shapes. The way the forms are broken down, it's like he's dissecting architecture. There’s a sense of drawing being as important as color in his work. Like Brice Marden, he asks us to slow down and really look. I think that painting is just a way of thinking, and Mangold helps us with that. Art is an ongoing conversation, right? Not fixed, but always moving.