Untitled 1981

Friedel Dzubas made this untitled painting using what looks like thinned out acrylic or maybe gouache, applied in layers. The way the colours pool and stain gives it this incredible sense of process, like he’s building up the image through pouring and blotting. Up close, the surface has this delicate, almost watercolour-like quality in the washes of blue, yellow, and grey that sit beneath the assertive red mark. The red itself is like a molten form, viscous and alive against the more atmospheric ground. I'm struck by how the red bleeds slightly into the surrounding space, creating a dynamic tension between control and accident. It makes me think about how art is an ongoing conversation between intention and improvisation. Dzubas' work reminds me a bit of Helen Frankenthaler, in that both artists were pushing the boundaries of colour and form, embracing chance and fluidity. Ultimately, though, it stands on its own as a really beautiful experiment.