Untitled (Batik) 1981

Emily Kame Kngwarreye made this untitled batik sometime in her life, using wax and dye on fabric. Imagine her, kneeling on the ground maybe, totally focused, absorbed in the movement of her hand. There's such a strong all-over pattern here, almost a field, vibrating between the red and yellow and these little pops of white. You can feel the push and pull, the way the artist is building up the surface with layers, trial and error, making something so organic out of repetition. I'm thinking of Agnes Martin or maybe even some of those late Goya paintings – you know, the ones that feel like they’re about to dissolve into pure color. This feels like that to me, the way one mark answers another, and the whole thing kind of breathes. It’s like she’s tapped into something ancient and universal. We're all just riffing off each other anyway, remixing and sampling through time.