Untitled 1959

This Untitled painting by Robert Ryman is all about the surface, about what paint can do. It’s like Ryman is asking, "What happens if I just keep painting, keep layering?" Look at the white, how it's not just one flat color but built up with all these little peaks and valleys. It’s so physical, you can almost feel the texture under your fingers. Then there's that green square, so solid and compact, sitting on top of all that white noise. It's like a punch of pure color, but even there, you can see the brushstrokes, the way the paint was dragged and pushed around. The physicality gets me thinking about the performative aspect of painting. It's not just about making an image, but about the act of doing. Ryman is in conversation with artists like Agnes Martin or maybe even Barnett Newman. But with Ryman, it’s more about the doing than the end result. It’s like he’s saying, "Art is not a noun, it's a verb."