Abstract 2 1982

Robert Goodnough made this abstract painting with swooping brushstrokes of white, red, blue, and black. You can just imagine Goodnough, standing in front of this canvas, maybe a little unsure, but making the first marks anyway. I bet he knew the painting would emerge through trial and error, each color placed next to the other, responding, reacting. You can almost feel the push and pull of the brush as he creates these marks. The paint isn’t too thick, not too thin, just right, flowing across the surface. It reminds me a little of Joan Mitchell, or maybe even Twombly, all those painters in conversation with one another! That single gesture, how it starts and stops, the pressure, it’s all communicating something, even if we don’t know what. Each artist builds on the discoveries of those who came before them. We’re all just trying to make something new out of something old. And painting—well, it’s a form of expression that lets us embrace ambiguity and uncertainty.