Glass Slippers 1960

Jo Baer's 'Glass Slippers' is a painting that plays with the power of simple forms and colors. It's like she's saying, "Hey, look how much you can do with just a few moves!" The black of the shoe against the soft off-white background, and the way she lays down the paint so flatly, makes it feel like an image is emerging, a thought that's just crystallizing. And that little stripe of pink! It’s not just a color; it's a connector, a horizon line, giving depth to the image. That single pink line acts as a mirror, reflecting and abstracting, creating a sense of symmetry but also disconnection. It's an interesting choice for an image of glass slippers, something so often associated with romance and fairytales. Baer reminds me a bit of Agnes Martin, in that she shares the same feeling of stripping things down to their barest bones, revealing something essential and poetic. Both encourage us to linger, to find our own stories within the subtle shifts of form and color.