Hover 1976

James Brooks made this painting, Hover, with paint, of course. It's like he's pushing and pulling the colors, an orange, red and gray world, like memories layered one on top of the other. Look at the floating shapes against the orange ground, the way the blues and reds are not contained, they bleed, they feel raw. Brooks isn’t afraid to let the paint have its say. The paint isn't overly thick, but has a beautiful quality of being stained into the canvas itself. This makes me think of Helen Frankenthaler, who also poured paint onto canvas to create these dreamy and vibrant spaces. These abstract forms remind us that art doesn't always need to depict something recognizable to evoke emotions, it can just hover. It's like Brooks is saying, hey, let’s embrace the messy, the unresolved, the pure potential of a moment.