Mandala No. 2 1968

Clarence Holbrook Carter made this painting, Mandala No. 2, sometime in the 20th century, probably with oil on canvas. Look at how he's laid down these colours, like blocks, red, green and black, and then drawn these very precise rings of colour, almost like light. It's quite a feat of process. The surface is really interesting. It’s not totally smooth, is it? There's a kind of drag in the paint. If you zoom in, you can see these tiny hairs or flecks. It's like Carter was really working the paint into the canvas, making sure the colour really stuck. These perfect circles—they’re slightly off, aren’t they? They're not mechanically perfect, which is what gives the painting this human quality. In the middle, where they get tight, you can almost feel the artist pushing his hand further and further into the picture. It brings to mind the later work of Hilma af Klint. It's art as an exploration, an unfolding, and, of course, there's always more than one way to see it.