Battery 2002

James Siena made this print called "Battery" with some kind of printmaking process, maybe screen printing, and just look at all those red lozenge shapes. It’s kind of mesmerizing, right? I can almost feel what it might have been like for Siena, setting up rules for himself, like some kind of crazy game. The discipline, the sheer focus it must have taken! Did he listen to music? Did he get into a flow state? I bet he did. Look at the way these shapes are packed together, pushing and pulling against each other. It makes me think about the relationship between chaos and order, and the way that artists like Siena find ways to balance them. He's working within a tradition that goes back through Sol LeWitt and Al Held and all those guys, but he's making it his own.