Untitled Vessel # 10 1977

Editor: Here we have Denise Green’s "Untitled Vessel #10" from 1977, made with colored pencil and pastel. It’s strikingly simple – a blue vase shape in a square field of blue. I find it incredibly meditative. What do you see in this piece? Curator: What immediately strikes me is the interplay between domesticity and abstraction, something Green explores extensively. The vessel, a deeply resonant symbol of home and the everyday, is rendered with such raw, almost rudimentary marks, and held within the borders of the square. In 1977, minimalist abstraction dominated gallery spaces; do you think including such direct representation of mundane objects was an attempt to subvert or comment on prevailing art trends? Editor: That's interesting, the tension between abstraction and the recognizable. I hadn't thought of it as a commentary. It does feel rebellious now that you mention it. Curator: Exactly. This vessel exists within the confines of this square—a framework not entirely unlike the canvas itself. Green challenges conventional notions of display and what is ‘worthy’ of aesthetic contemplation, presenting the personal as inherently political. Editor: So, by depicting such an everyday object with so little ornamentation, Green's challenging the idea of "high" art? Curator: Precisely. She elevates the mundane, inserting personal experience and feminist critique into the austere discourse of formal abstraction. And she accomplishes this without needing large-scale artworks to be noticed by collectors. Editor: That's really changed my perception of the work. It seemed simple, but it is very powerful. Thank you for sharing that perspective! Curator: And thank you, it is artworks such as these that challenge our understanding about history, art and life!