Adriatic 1973

Brice Marden made this painting, titled Adriatic, using oil and wax on canvas. It’s all about layering, about how one colour sits next to another, and how that relationship can make you feel. The surface is smooth but not totally flat, I can see a build-up of paint in the top block, like layers of skin. There's something so seductive about the darkness of this piece. The Adriatic is a body of water, and I think Marden has captured the depth of it. The surface looks like a mirror but you just know that if you peered into it, you would get lost. You can see in the top block how Marden worked the wax to create a translucent, almost luminous field. The light bounces off the canvas and makes the colour vibrate. It reminds me of Agnes Martin, who also worked with subtle colour variations to create a sense of peace and tranquility. These paintings are about process and about looking closely. They’re about how we see and what we feel when we see it.