Variation 8 1938

Max Bill made this, Variation 8, with oil on canvas, and look how he's built up these rings of color. I find it fascinating that Bill was a student at the Bauhaus, because this piece feels like he's teasing out a very particular idea of machine-made perfection. I'm really drawn to that delicious, almost-opaque orange and how it plays against the cool blue. There’s something so satisfying about the way each color sort of nestles into the next, like one of those Russian dolls, each shape fitting so perfectly with the last. But even in this perfection, you can still sense his hand at work, in the slight imperfections, the little wobbles in the lines, which makes me think of another artist, Ellsworth Kelly, who did something similar. This really gets at the heart of what art is all about, doesn’t it? It’s not just about what you see, but how you see it, and what you bring to the viewing experience.