Witness V 1992

Basil Beattie made Witness V with oil paint. It looks like he built it up, layer after layer, figuring it out as he went along. I can imagine him, brush in hand, circling this form, adding dark strokes, then lighter ones. The paint is thick, you can feel it. It’s not about making a perfect image, but about the struggle to get there. That one dark stroke, slashing down the side, feels like a question. What happens if I do this? It’s a risk, but it's also what makes the painting alive. I think of Beattie in conversation with other painters, like Guston, maybe, grappling with similar questions, using paint to wrestle with form and meaning. Painting like this is an ongoing experiment. There are no easy answers, just marks and gestures, building up a history of looking and feeling.