Islam 1965

Carla Accardi made "Islam" with sicofoil on perspex—that’s a kind of transparent plastic—and looking at it, I imagine it was a constant shifting of elements to get to this place, this version of the image. I sympathize with Accardi and wonder what it was like to be her in the studio, testing out variations, maybe thinking about the grids of Agnes Martin, but wanting something a little wilder, like the feminist art of the 1970s. The repeated red shapes create a rhythm, but they’re not quite the same, there is trial and error, maybe some intuition. The hot pink colour feels good; it zings off the surface of the painting. I love the dark background that makes the other colours pop. And it makes me think about conversations between painters across time. I can imagine Accardi looking at other artists' work, borrowing a little bit, pushing back on some other things, and ultimately creating something new and all her own. And that is a conversation that never ends.