Untitled 1958

Stanley Boxer made this untitled painting with oil paint and a brush. I can almost feel the artist there in the studio, moving paint around, deciding where to put down the next mark. These short, choppy strokes remind me of Van Gogh, only with a pastel palette. What do you think Stanley was thinking when he chose these unusual colors, peach and baby blue? He could have been looking at a sunset, or a flower garden. Or maybe he just wanted to see what would happen if he put these colors next to each other. I love how the texture is thick in some places and thin in others, like he was building up the surface layer by layer. And that one quick stroke of blue near the top right, feels like the whole painting hinges on that single gesture! Painters are always talking to each other, across time and space. Each stroke is a conversation, a question, an answer. And it’s never really finished, is it?