Untitled 1981

This piece, by Richard Paul Lohse, is a geometric composition of nine squares in shades of yellow, red, green, blue and purple. It's the kind of work that feels like a puzzle, maybe a bit like color theory Lego! What really grabs me is the surface. The colors look smooth, each square solid with color, a real contrast to the kind of brushy chaos I usually make. I keep wondering, how did he get them so flat? Is it screen-printed? Or maybe he taped everything off super carefully? The way these colors play together feels really considered. Take that purple square at the top—it's not just a random choice; it deepens the yellow around it and sets off the blue down below. It reminds me a little of Josef Albers and his color studies. There's a kind of rigor here, but also a joy in seeing what happens when these colors bump up against each other. It's a reminder that even the most orderly art is full of surprises.