Midnight Spaghetti 2010

Aki Kuroda made this painting, called Midnight Spaghetti, with paint, sometime after 1944. It's a dance of black and white, or maybe a wrestling match. Look at how Kuroda uses the black paint, it's not just flat, it's built up, thick in places, scraped away in others. You can almost feel the energy of his process. Then, these bright white lines explode across the surface like a wild tangle of noodles, or maybe a cityscape seen through a cracked windshield. That one looping line, near the top left, it’s like a question mark hanging in the air, or a bit of steam rising off the plate. And notice the lower part of the image, it's a darker mess with an almost tangible, textural presence. It reminds me of Cy Twombly's scribbles mixed with Franz Kline's boldness, but with a dash of humor. Art is always in conversation, riffing off the past, and spinning something new. It's never really "finished" but exists in this state of ongoing exploration.