Untitled 1942

Ad Reinhardt made this untitled watercolour, probably sometime in the 1940's, with loose strokes of pink, blue, and umber, all held together with bold black lines. I can just imagine him hunched over the paper, trying out different moves. Those black lines feel really decisive, like he’s trying to pin something down amidst the wash of colour. It reminds me of de Kooning, but also Guston - his own work was always about an ongoing push-and-pull. It makes me wonder what Reinhardt was thinking as he made this. Was he battling with representation, or trying to dissolve it altogether? The painting feels really intimate and personal, like a glimpse into his studio practice. Every artist is in conversation with those who came before, each mark a contribution to a long, ongoing dialogue. When we paint, we invite ambiguity and uncertainty into the process. There's a real freedom to embracing multiple readings of a painting.