Ehr 1972

James Brooks made this painting, "Ehr", with a sense of freedom, laying down color like someone piecing together a puzzle without a picture. The paint in "Ehr" feels almost poured, settling into pools and spreading out like ink on wet paper. Brooks lets the materials do their thing, creating textures that feel both accidental and intentional. Take the white stripe on the left – it stands out, raw and almost defiant against the darker colors, yet it feels like the ground from which everything else comes. Brooks's paintings always feel to me like looking into a deep well, where things are suggested but never fully revealed. Like Helen Frankenthaler, Brooks used a soak-stain technique and was interested in the movement of colour, it's a conversation that happens between artists across decades. There's always more to discover, more to question, and that's what keeps me coming back.