Ascona 1976

Friedel Dzubas made Ascona with broad strokes of vivid paint across the canvas. Dzubas was a master of color field painting, emphasizing the physical properties of his medium. The way he laid down the pigment—thick in some areas, translucent in others—demonstrates the behavior of acrylic paint itself. Look closely, and you can see how the colors interact, blending wet-on-wet to create blurred boundaries and gradients. There's no attempt to hide the traces of the brush, no illusionism, just the pure experience of color and texture. Dzubas's process was improvisational, even spontaneous. His application is direct, immediate, with minimal intervention between idea and execution. In this regard, his work resonates with the traditions of gestural abstraction. This approach to painting can be seen as a reaction against the industrialization of art production, as it highlights the unique touch and skill of the artist. Ultimately, Ascona invites us to consider the labor involved in its creation, and the choices made by Dzubas to emphasize process and materiality over any predetermined image.