Evening 1961

Vilen Barsky made this painting called, "Evening," and right away, I can see that it’s all about the joy of slapping paint around. I get this sense of the artist just playing, you know? I'm really drawn to the textures here. The paint is so thick you could almost eat it, like frosting on a cake. There are these chunky strokes of reds, oranges, and purples, all buzzing next to each other. Notice the long, vertical smear of orange on the left. It's like a bolt of energy holding the whole composition together, while also dividing the space. This piece reminds me a bit of Milton Resnick's paintings—that same fearless approach to color and surface. It’s like they’re both saying, "Let's just see what happens if we keep going, keep layering, keep pushing." And in the end, that's what makes art so exciting. It’s not about answers, it's about the ongoing conversation, the questions that never quite get resolved.