"Cool" Series No. 1 (Red over White) 1963

Perle Fine made "Cool" Series No. 1 (Red over White) with paint, of course, but the real magic is in how she layers it. I can almost see her, brush in hand, thinking about the push and pull between those rectangles of red and white. The paint isn't trying to hide itself here. You can see its thickness, how it sits on the canvas, a testament to her hand and mind working together. That deep red band, it’s not just a color, it's a boundary, a challenge to the white space around it. It reminds me a little of the back and forth in work by someone like Mondrian, but with a cooler palette. Ultimately, artists are always in conversation, riffing off each other, even across time. Fine's work feels like a note in that ongoing exchange, a reminder that painting is about so much more than just what you see; it's about feeling, about the questions we ask ourselves when we look, and the courage to leave things open to interpretation.