Red Spot 1954

John Ferren made this painting, "Red Spot," sometime in the mid-20th century, probably in his studio in New York City, working with oil paint on canvas. Look at the sandy ground it sits on, and then the red mass, bleeding on one side, held up by a shadow of grey. What a curious place! Almost stage-like, or like a dreamscape with very few elements. I bet it was a sunny day in the studio when Ferren made this, because the light seems to be bouncing off the surfaces, making them glow. I wonder if Ferren was thinking about the way colors interact when he put that slash of blue next to the grey. Or maybe he wasn’t thinking at all! Maybe he was just feeling his way around the canvas, letting his intuition guide him, and trusting that something interesting would emerge. "Red Spot" reminds me of other abstract paintings from that time, like the work of Rothko or Gottlieb, but Ferren has his own unique voice, his own way of making something out of nothing. And that’s what makes painting so exciting.