Nexus II 1959

Editor: Here we have Morris Louis's *Nexus II*, from 1959. It’s an acrylic on canvas. I find its bands of color—blue, beige, and green—quite calming, almost like looking at a simplified landscape. How do you interpret this work? Curator: These veils of color, seemingly simple, echo a history of cultural symbolism tied to nature. Consider how blue has represented the heavens, green, growth and life, and beige, perhaps, the earth from which they spring. The painting becomes a sort of primal landscape, almost pre-human in its abstraction. Do you sense any connection to nature? Editor: I hadn’t considered the colors so literally, but now I do see those associations. I was more focused on the abstract composition. The way the colors bleed into the canvas almost feels like watercolors, doesn't it? Curator: Precisely! The lack of harsh lines lends a fluidity reminiscent of memory itself, constantly shifting and blending. Notice how each color impacts the others, their boundaries blurring. Does that suggest any interplay, any relationship between the colors? Editor: I think it does, like the colors are reacting with each other and evolving in relationship. It feels like an intentional dialogue between the individual hues and the space surrounding each of them. Curator: A beautiful analogy. These "stains," as Louis called them, pull from our collective unconsciousness and personal experience with the natural world and force them into a conversation within ourselves. And that middle color provides some contrast for those of us examining and interpreting. Editor: That's so true. It makes you think about all the history these symbols represent and how they still resonate with us. Curator: Indeed. Through his color choices, Louis unknowingly unearthed this symbolism that persists through cultural memory, evoking primal human sentiments toward color, nature and meaning.