Variations on a Rhythm--U 1933

Raymond Jonson made Variations on a Rhythm-U using oil, though when I look at it, I get the feeling it could have been anything really. It's interesting, isn't it, how an artist can use something as simple as colour and shape to build a whole world? This painting's all about layering, the way the colours sit next to each other; those dusky pinks, blues and golds, they're not just colours, they're feelings. The whole thing is so smooth, you can't really see the brushstrokes, but you sense he was feeling his way through the painting. I mean, look at how the lines almost touch, but not quite. It's like he's setting up this expectation, a kind of visual beat, a rhythm. I get a sense of Agnes Martin and the American abstract painters when I see this, the way the forms interact and are so still. Art's not about having all the answers, right? It's more like tuning into a frequency, catching a vibe.