Untitled 1959

This untitled oil painting was created by Andre Lanskoy, and it really dives headfirst into abstraction. Look how the shapes bump up against each other, a little bit like stained glass but messier, more human. The surface is a delicious, bumpy topography. You can almost feel the give and take of the brush, as Lanskoy pushes the paint around. I love the way he sets up a kind of color rhythm—pinks, greens, blues—but it's never too regular. Check out how one little green triangle touches a yellow patch, just enough to make the whole thing sing. Lanskoy reminds me of another painter who really knew how to let loose with color, maybe someone like Kandinsky. But where Kandinsky felt like pure expression, Lanskoy feels more constructed, as if he builds up his paintings piece by piece. Both leave you with a sense that art is just an ongoing conversation.