Untitled 1962

This untitled painting by Genevieve Asse seems to have emerged quietly, like a thought half-formed. Look at the hazy field of pale blues and greys! It’s as if the canvas is breathing, subtly shifting between tones. I can imagine Asse in her studio, working intuitively, adding and subtracting layers of thin paint, trying to capture some elusive feeling. See that stroke of orange and the soft pink circle? It's a burst of warmth, fighting through the cool mist. The paint is so delicate, so tender. Asse was part of a generation of painters deeply engaged with abstraction, like Agnes Martin or Joan Mitchell. They were all trying to find new ways of expressing interior states through colour and form. I think that artists are always looking at each other’s work, building upon the ideas of those who came before. It is like one long, ongoing conversation! It’s a reminder that painting is never really finished, it just keeps evolving through us.