Untitled 1994

Jill Moser made this untitled painting using ink and acrylic on paper. I can really imagine her in the studio, shifting the painting around, trying to resolve the central knot of lines. The whole image is built up out of gestures. There are grey washes that feel atmospheric, like the background is a cloud, and then these looping white lines on top, a bit like a celestial diagram. I like how they cross over and build up these layered moments of focus. I wonder if she was thinking about mapping or architecture, or some kind of organic form, like a flower, or a figure? The way the lines repeat and intersect makes me think about Cy Twombly or Brice Marden, but Moser’s got her own thing going on – a kind of elegant simplicity. It reminds me that painting is always a conversation; it is built through looking and responding to the world, and to each other.