Untitled 1971

Clyfford Still made this untitled painting with oil on canvas. Looking at this field of pale shades, I imagine Still’s process as a kind of excavation, peeling back layers to reveal these forms that feel both ethereal and monumental. There's this creamy, off-white expanse that dominates, punctuated by these jagged, flame-like shapes rising, like memories flickering to the surface. I sympathize with Still, imagining him wrestling with the canvas, trying to capture something just beyond reach. I wonder if those tiny, almost tentative strokes of red at the bottom are the artist's signature, a final, grounding mark in a sea of abstraction? The paint looks thin, almost stained into the canvas, which gives the painting an airy lightness. Still's work always reminds me that painting is a conversation, a constant back-and-forth between artists across time, each inspiring the next to see and feel the world in new ways. It's a reminder that there’s no fixed meaning, just the ongoing joy of discovery.