January 1973: 1 1973

Patrick Heron made this print, January 1973: 1, with screenprint. You know, when you see a piece like this, it’s easy to get lost in the colors and shapes, but I like to think about the process. Look at how the blocks of color sit next to each other, like they're having a conversation. The red sort of hums, doesn’t it? It’s not just one red, but layers of red on red, creating depth and vibration. See how it pools in that corner and creates this little shadow? Heron was part of this wider conversation around color field painting that was happening at the time. People like Helen Frankenthaler and Kenneth Noland were also experimenting with big blocks of color, but Heron’s got this really particular, almost musical sense of how colors play off each other. It’s loose, like a jam session. It’s the kind of piece that reminds you that art doesn’t always have to be serious, it can be playful too.