El Náhuatl 1964

Carlos Merida made "El Náhuatl" with paint, and I can imagine him working on it, stepping back, squinting, and then leaning in close again. There’s a lot of back and forth in painting, a lot of looking and adjusting. I feel for him, because I know what it is like to be stuck with a painting that is not working. Look at that bright red background, the contrasting geometric shapes in black and grey, and the subtle use of green. What do you think he was trying to say? What was he trying to find out? He's got an eye to earlier geometric abstraction, but then there's also something so personal about this work. I think of Torres Garcia, but Merida's got his own thing going on, and it’s something special. Painting is like a conversation between artists, a way of building on what's come before, and I think Merida found something new here.