Hover 1976

James Brooks made this painting, Hover, with oil on canvas and I like how it feels like an experiment in letting go. I imagine Brooks in his studio, thinking about how to make color float. There’s a big red rectangle that anchors the bottom left corner, but most of the action is happening above, where little blobs of red, white, and blue paint are kind of, well, hovering. They remind me of shapes you see when you close your eyes too tight. I wonder if he kept adding layers, watching how the colors interacted, pushing and pulling them around the canvas until they found their place. The orange background peeks through, unifying everything, making it feel warm and cozy. Brooks was part of that generation of abstract expressionists who were all trying to figure out how to make a painting that wasn’t just a picture, but an experience, and I think he’s onto something here. It makes me want to go back to my studio and start pushing paint around myself.