Sun Sonata 1983

Curator: Gene Davis's 1983 work, "Sun Sonata," pulsates with the energy of light. At first glance, what feelings does the orchestration of colour evoke? Editor: Immediately, I’m struck by the luminosity, how the vertical stripes create an almost musical rhythm with the contrasts in tone. There's a digital, otherworldly feel. Curator: Davis was a central figure in the Washington Color School movement, a reaction against Abstract Expressionism that aimed to strip away the angst. Color Field painters wanted colour itself to be the subject, right? Editor: Precisely! "Sun Sonata" reduces form to these radiant bands. Notice the interplay between warm and cool tones? The vertical lines almost feel like stacked prisms or pure chroma in bar form. Curator: And this was quite intentional! By embracing vivid colours and repetitive structures, Davis sought to liberate art from traditional storytelling and historical representation. Editor: The regularity is important. He used serial progressions which serve to amplify chromatic intensities without the need for further compositional complexity. We get something of a quasi-minimalist experience here too. Curator: Yet there's nothing cold about it. There's a joyfulness that’s so immediate, defying gravity, in many ways transcending that minimalism. The placement and play of light make one consider ideas about how it operates across cultures and perceptions of power. Editor: I find the almost pixelated edges in certain stripes visually intriguing. The subtle colour variations make the form shimmer and change constantly. Curator: Davis created an egalitarian, almost utopian colour language. It invites viewers to engage with sensation, to feel the effects of colour directly without any intervening narrative constraints. Editor: It certainly pulls you in. Looking closely at the arrangement, one could say this painting acts almost like a screen…reflecting or presenting a very particular way for light to hit. Curator: Absolutely. A bold and, arguably, deeply optimistic proposition given when, socially, artistically, and politically it was presented. Editor: Indeed. I appreciate how you’ve shed light on the socio-political backdrop. I've gained fresh insights into the aesthetic. Curator: And I've had my formalism tempered. Davis' work demonstrates art’s potential to inspire, liberate and even challenge societal constructs.