Blue Bird 1978

Gene Davis made this painting, Blue Bird, using vertical stripes of cool hues. It's all about how the process of making art can reveal a different way of seeing. There's something rhythmic in the way these lines sit next to each other, like musical notes on a scale. The colour palette is very light and cool, there's blues, greens and turquoises, but all are very muted and toned. The paint feels thin, almost like a watercolour, allowing the primed canvas to breathe beneath. Notice how the cool tones create a sense of space, like looking out onto a horizon. There's no depth really, just this flat picture plane. Davis’s stripes remind me a bit of Agnes Martin, but while she created meditative grids, Davis seems more interested in the visual buzz of color. The painting doesn’t offer any easy answers, which is fine by me.