Big Bend V 1976

Leon Berkowitz made Big Bend V with paint on canvas, and the way the colors seem to glow from within suggests a real dedication to the process. The surface is alive with subtle shifts, like a Rothko but turned up a notch, into pure feeling. Look closely, and you can see where he’s layered thin washes of color, building up this luminous field. There's a kind of hazy atmosphere, where the colors blend and bleed into each other, creating this feeling of endless space. It's not just about color; it’s about light, and how light can evoke emotion. Berkowitz reminds me a little of Agnes Martin, in the sense of wanting to pare things down to their essence, but he is also different, he pushes past the grid into something more unbound. These guys aren't trying to give us answers, but to open up a space for contemplation.