Lavender High 1968

Curator: Alice Baber’s "Lavender High," painted in 1968, is a vibrant dance of biomorphic forms, rendered in luminous acrylic. What catches your eye first? Editor: Those colors! It's like peering into a kaleidoscope. It's... joyful, almost aggressively so. I’m curious about the title; “Lavender High” sounds almost psychedelic, like a synesthetic experience. Curator: Well, it certainly fits the era. Baber emerged as an abstract expressionist during a time of great social upheaval, when art sought new modes of expression beyond the representational. Color Field painting also comes to mind. This piece feels lighter than much of the heavier stuff associated with Abstract Expressionism. Editor: It feels almost rebellious in its optimism. Instead of the angst and existentialism we often see, there's an exuberance, a feeling of expansion. Did she intend a connection to the counterculture of the 60s, do you think? Curator: Baber was deeply invested in spiritualism and the search for universal forms. For her, I imagine color was less a stylistic choice and more a way to tap into deeper states of consciousness. Remember, during the Cold War era, artists like Baber were pushing against established norms, both aesthetically and socially. Galleries were vital spaces for challenging existing power structures through non-representational art. Editor: It’s a good reminder that abstraction can be deeply political. I’m wondering, though, if we're overemphasizing the 'high' part and neglecting the 'lavender'. The prevalence of purple tones definitely shapes my experience of the artwork. The shapes, those cell-like forms... they’re contained, defined, but also bleed into each other, dissolving boundaries. It makes me think about change and impermanence. Curator: Yes! There’s an ethereality, for sure. Her technique enhances that – look closely, and you can see the impasto layers giving the work a wonderful sense of depth. For me, this canvas is about finding light and possibility amidst the darkness. It’s quite interesting when you reflect on all of the social turmoil unfolding in that period. Editor: I like that—"light and possibility.” I walked in seeing pure celebration, and I'm leaving with a sense of nuanced hope, like the memory of joy lingering after a storm. Curator: That resonates. It makes me think differently, too, about how abstraction carries history. I may not be the same ever again.