Desert 1989

Mary Fedden made this painting, called Desert, with oils on board, back in 1959. It’s mostly muted browns and tans, but then – pow! – there’s this lavender sky, like a mirage. I imagine Fedden standing there, squinting in the sun, trying to capture the feel of endless space. She probably mixed those earthy tones, scraping and layering, maybe wiping away, until she found the right balance. Look at the lower part of the painting, those vertical marks – they're so immediate, so sure. They remind me of Agnes Martin's subtle lines, but here, they create a sense of depth, a drop-off into the unknown. And that white shape snaking through the center? Is it a dried-up riverbed? Or some kind of optical illusion? It's not quite anything, which is what I like most about it. Painting like this is all about feeling your way through, embracing the not-knowing, and letting the painting become its own kind of truth.