Untitled no. 9 (white painting) 1955

Curator: Ronald Bladen’s "Untitled no. 9 (white painting)" from 1955 confronts us with a textured field of white, punctuated by two dark, almost black, shapes. It’s an example of matter painting. Editor: Immediately, I see a stark duality – a yin and yang perhaps, or maybe a celestial skyscape of obscured stars. The overall effect is incredibly tactile. You can practically feel the artist’s hand at work. Curator: Indeed, the impasto application of oil paint creates a palpable surface. It asks us to consider not just what is represented, but how it’s made. What materials were available, and how did Bladen manipulate them to achieve this particular effect? This relates to the abstract expressionist ethos prevalent at that time, focusing on the act of creation itself. Editor: I am more captivated by the primal symbols within this tactile space. Those black marks evoke an almost dreamlike quality. I find myself searching for archetypal images within them. It’s as if Bladen channeled something deep from his unconscious onto the canvas. Do you sense that? Curator: I am inclined to examine the wider social implications of an abstract expressionist breaking with artistic conventions by using monochrome matter to deconstruct artistic representation and to challenge societal aesthetics through material use. What did such a move signal regarding attitudes towards established art markets or dominant cultural narratives? Editor: Possibly a subconscious rejection of such norms which materializes in those potent shapes, which serve to interrupt any coherent field of color by forming points of deep contrast, commanding immediate attention, and triggering an innate process to discern the unsaid… a form of primal story etched by the self! Curator: So you think the appeal might reside less in what it obviously depicts and more in what social context it evokes? Very intriguing! I’d not viewed it quite like that until now! Editor: Precisely! Now when I reflect on my own preconceptions, I recognize an intersection between the conscious intent of the artist and society through symbolic expressions, that is as individual as fingerprints, creating an artifact from mere tactile materiality that bears cultural depth beyond just brushstrokes.