Summer Table 1972

Brice Marden made "Summer Table" using wax and pigment in oil. Imagine Marden, wrestling with color, scraping and layering to get those luscious surfaces. He's creating three distinct zones with a muted grey-blue on one side, a pure, intense yellow in the middle, and a deep blue on the other. I wonder if he was thinking about Rothko, maybe feeling a bit of rivalry, wanting to push color in his own way. I love how the colors vibrate against each other. It’s not just a flat surface. You can almost feel the texture, the weight of the paint, the hours of labor. A single gesture can convey a feeling, an intention, a whole mood. Painters are always talking to each other across time, responding, reacting, inspiring. Marden’s work reminds us that painting is an ongoing conversation, a way of seeing and feeling the world that embraces ambiguity and invites multiple interpretations.