And Pink 1973

Sam Francis made *And Pink* with paint, and, my god, did he make it! He wasn’t afraid to let loose. Look at those splatters, drips, and saturated colours all dancing together on the surface. It’s a testament to the pure joy of applying paint. Francis lays down thinned washes of colour that pool and bleed into one another. The paint isn’t so much applied as it is allowed to find its own way, creating a sense of openness and spontaneity. See the way the red bleeds into the white of the canvas, creating these delicate pink halos? It's like he’s conjuring light itself, a pure visual sensation. Francis reminds me a bit of Joan Mitchell, in the way that both artists let their emotions explode onto the canvas in a riot of colour and gesture. But where Mitchell can feel turbulent and stormy, Francis is all sunshine and rainbows. For both of them painting is an act of pure liberation.