New Star 

Peter Busa's painting, “New Star,” is made with oil paint, applied with brushes on canvas. These are standard materials for a painter of his generation. The way he uses them, though, is entirely distinctive. Busa embraced a vocabulary of geometric forms and flat planes of color. This creates an ambiguous space, somewhere between figuration and pure abstraction. The palette is limited to earth tones, rusts, and ochres, evoking a primal, almost archaeological feel. It’s as though the artist is unearthing a lost language of symbols. Busa was associated with the Abstract Expressionist movement, yet his work doesn't carry the same gestural drama of a Jackson Pollock, for instance. Instead, he builds up the composition deliberately, area by area. The visible brushstrokes and slight variations in texture remind us that, although machine production had become ascendant, the artist’s hand could still leave its mark. In this way, Busa challenges the traditional hierarchy between art and craft, suggesting that both are valuable forms of creative expression.