End Stripes 1960

Gene Davis made this stripe painting, “End Stripes”, with paint on canvas. The composition is so simple, just vertical stripes on either side of a large beige field, but it’s a good example of how an artist can make something out of almost nothing, and how such a reductive image can still be so engaging! Look at how each stripe is its own colour; they seem very carefully chosen in relation to each other. The paint looks quite thin, almost like a stain, and the weave of the canvas is visible. You can see each stripe has a slightly wobbly edge, a product of being painted freehand. The slight variations are very humanizing. Davis was part of the Washington Color School, a movement interested in pure abstraction through color. For me, Agnes Martin also comes to mind; both artists share a similar interest in the emotional and spatial effects of color and the meditative qualities of repetition. It’s really an invitation to slow down, look closely, and just feel.