Untitled 1959

This "Untitled" painting, by Fernando García Ponce, is just a playground of color, playing out as a set of rough hewn tiles. It’s all about process, about what happens when you let color lead the way. Looking closely, you can see the textures, the way the paint sits on the surface, thick in some spots, almost sanded down in others, like the baby blue rectangle that looks like its fading into the canvas. And the colors, oh, the colors! They're not shouting, but humming, like a quiet conversation between reds and blues and greens. It is almost like the blocks are trying to force the background to meet them in the middle, with no harsh lines to be found anywhere. I always think about artists like Josef Albers when I see work like this. It reminds me that painting is always an ongoing conversation, building on what came before, reaching towards something new. It is an expression that doesn't need to be understood to be felt.