Fourth Image for J 1976

Curator: So much space. It almost feels like I'm looking at a map, sparsely populated islands adrift in a sea of white. Editor: You're seeing Bernard Cohen's "Fourth Image for J," part of the Tate Collection. Cohen, born in 1933, has explored abstraction through many lenses. What grabs you about this work? Curator: It's the tension between order and chaos, isn't it? The dotted grid, so precise, yet those biomorphic shapes splashed on top seem to defy any system. Like trying to contain a dream. Editor: Absolutely. The dots could be seen as a commentary on the grid of modern life, while those splashes of color, the artist's own emotional response—a joyful rebellion, perhaps? Curator: A rebellion, or maybe just an honest expression. The red and purple hues feel visceral, like a pulse. What do you make of the lack of a date? Editor: It speaks to a timelessness, I think. Cohen's work often transcends specific moments, inviting us to consider broader themes of perception and experience. Curator: I like that. It makes it more about feeling than understanding, more about seeing than knowing. Editor: Exactly. And perhaps that's what art should be, a space for exploration, for questioning, for simply being present. Curator: Yes, a place to get lost in the islands.