First Night I 1979

Aki Kuroda made *First Night I* using confident black and white strokes. It feels like a painting that came into being quickly. It's as if he was chasing after an idea. Look at how the horizontal lines meet the more fluid forms. I can almost feel Kuroda at work, moving fast, maybe even dancing around the canvas as he painted. Those white lines are so clean against the black, and then the splatters at the bottom! That's where he really let loose, right? It reminds me a bit of Franz Kline, but with a more playful edge. It makes you wonder about the conversation Kuroda was having with other artists. I bet he looked at Asian calligraphy, too. It's all part of this big, ongoing chat between artists across time, each inspiring the other to see the world a little differently.