Untitled 1955

This untitled artwork by Afro pulses with a spontaneous energy, brought to life through watercolor and ink. Imagine Afro’s process: a dance between control and chance, where each brushstroke and line contributes to a conversation happening right on the surface. The composition is light and airy, with a focus on gestural marks. The dark ink creates definition, while the pale blues and browns, I don’t know, add a layer of atmosphere. There's a series of vertical marks on the right - are they figures, or flora? Perhaps Afro was thinking about a landscape and also about how to abstract from it, simplify it down to a few essential gestures. Painters are always looking at other painters, riffing on their ideas, pushing them further, and making them their own. This piece reminds me of other abstract painters who work on paper, like Guston or maybe Twombly. It is a wonderful example of how painting is an exchange of ideas across time, isn’t it?