Embullient Chord 

Curator: "Embullient Chord"—I feel an immediate sense of restrained chaos. There’s something quite visceral in the application of paint. Editor: The texture looks very worked—it makes me wonder what Peter Busa was thinking, perhaps as a reaction to social upheaval and what his contribution and perspective in those terms would look like, if he were to create abstract visual form out of turmoil. Busa moved between representational and abstract styles and “Embullient Chord” offers an insight into the techniques associated with matter painting. Curator: And what's immediately striking about the materiality is that palpable quality: thick impasto. The artist really seems to build up the surface with a combination of oil paint and probably something else to get that texture that is creating so much dynamism and invites questioning and interpretation about how abstraction plays out within his visual, historical experience. Editor: You can almost feel Busa's hand at work here; that’s particularly the kind of active painterly surface of matter painting—pushing and pulling the medium. We are encouraged to consider that, as this style became the mode of expression for diverse identities looking to resist traditional ways of living and of art making, Busa—a white, cis-gendered male—brings his perspective, potentially opening his view, his world, to the reality that others faced, and sharing that with the viewer, through abstraction. Curator: Do you read this—and this may be a very obvious question, as someone unfamiliar with all aspects—but is it fair to look at it as some sort of reaction, resistance and defiance, even? What were his peers exploring and how did it make it onto the work’s surface, quite literally. This method is used and created and seen as a way to challenge perceptions of labor in art as the work demands and allows it. Editor: I think absolutely yes. It reflects what it meant to live and paint in the mid-20th century—and it opens doors to understanding, creating dialogue, between that time and our own time. But let's bring it back to the work. The process of making and mixing that black color must have been an intensive job. You can see bits of red and orange peeking through the deep blackness, too. And all this paint—the raw materiality—would not only be what it is for aesthetic reasons, but there are questions and interpretations available that suggest why artists are pushing medium to its limits, to defy classist, biased perspectives. Curator: This really shifts how I now think about this type of abstract work. Thank you! Editor: Yes, an active and living art that challenges us through dialogue.