Support/Daisy Pattern (with Michelle Grabner) 1999

Gaylen Gerber, in collaboration with Michelle Grabner, made this daisy patterned piece using... well, that's part of the puzzle, isn't it? It's like a screen, or a field seen through a screen. Up close, you'll notice the repetitive pattern, and the textured surface almost vibrates. The color is muted, understated, but there's something quietly insistent about the all-over composition. It's as though the touch is everywhere, yet nowhere in particular, which is not at all unlike Agnes Martin, in that way. What I find interesting is the way the daisy pattern, which is so familiar and domestic, is turned into something almost abstract. It's a kind of quiet subversion, making the everyday strange, which is something I always look for in art. It's like, how can we re-see the world?