Plane Figure III 1992

Robert Mangold made this "Plane Figure III" with paint and graphite on canvas. Look closely at how he's married the ochre-colored triangle to those delicate, looping lines. It’s like he’s trying to find a shape within a shape, or maybe it's about the conversation between the clean geometry of the triangle and the more organic quality of those meandering curves. You can almost feel the artist's hand moving, trying to work out the relationship between these forms. The surface isn’t overworked, it feels very direct, almost like a drawing. And I love that hint of graphite peeking through! Mangold reminds me a little of Agnes Martin, in how he manages to do so much with a kind of minimal language. It's about opening up possibilities rather than closing them down with fixed answers.