B 183 1964

Tadasky made this, simply titled ‘B 183’, using airbrush on canvas—imagine the delicate control it must have taken! It’s all soft edges and blurred lines. I can imagine him patiently building up the layers of orange, that hazy black creeping in from the edges like a solar eclipse. I bet he was thinking about the Op artists of the time, maybe even Rothko. You know, that idea of color as pure feeling, but with a totally different vibe. This circle, hovering there, it’s so simple, so clean. But there’s something a little off too, like it’s not quite perfect, not quite centered. I like that. It's not trying too hard. Painters are always in conversation. Whether it’s airbrush or impasto, abstraction or figuration, we’re all bumping up against each other, reacting, stealing, and transforming. That's the story of painting. It's about trying to say the unsayable, finding new ways to feel.