Ocean Park #54 1972

Richard Diebenkorn made "Ocean Park #54" with oil on canvas, and just look at those big, soft, structural shapes in pale blues, greens, and creams. I can imagine him out there in California, wrestling with the light and space, trying to pin down that airy feeling on a flat surface. It's like he's building a world, one brushstroke at a time. See that yellow line near the top? It’s a horizon, or a memory of one. The paint looks thin, almost watery in places, then thick and creamy in others. The colors are quiet, but they vibrate against each other. I bet Diebenkorn was thinking about Mondrian and Matisse when he made this, maybe even Rothko, all those painters who figured out how to make feelings with color and shape. Isn't it amazing how artists keep talking to each other across time? Each painting is an answer to a question that another artist asked, a new way of seeing something old.