Truth 1992

Pat Lipsky’s painting, “Truth,” is an essay in colour relations, built through touch. I can imagine Lipsky stepping back, squinting, and then leaning in close again, trying to get the colour just right. She’s making loads of decisions, one after another. Each square is its own little world. How does it vibrate with the one next to it? It’s like a giant puzzle of her own making. What seems at first like one colour, deep, deep red, blooms into life as you notice the browns, mauves, greens, grays, blues, and purples. This reminds me a bit of Agnes Martin’s grids, but Lipsky’s squares feel looser, more organic, like each one is breathing individually. I wonder if she was thinking of some of the early modernists, like the cubists, and their way of breaking down form into faceted planes. But here, instead of breaking things down, Lipsky seems to be building something up, atom by atom, colour by colour, towards something that feels deeply felt, and true.