Omega IX 1961

Alexander Liberman made this artwork titled Omega IX with paint and a rectangular canvas. The painting is divided into three blocks of colour; the outer left shows a semi-circular white shape that butts up against a large block of red that makes up the centre of the painting, and is itself intersected on the right by a semi-circular block of black. I like to imagine Liberman in his studio with his huge canvas and an idea for these flatly coloured shapes. He mixes up this delicious red colour, dragging it around, filling up the middle block and carefully edging it next to the white and black. It must have been a challenge to make the edges so clean and flat and to get the curves of the circles so precise. Of course, nothing is perfect, and the beauty of this painting comes from its precision while still feeling handmade. It reminds me of the work of Barnett Newman, or even Ellsworth Kelly, painters interested in colour and form, and the tension between the two. It’s inspiring how artists like Liberman built upon each other’s ideas, turning the act of painting into a philosophical discussion.