Flower I 1981

Joan Mitchell made this abstract floral work on paper, using crayon and lithographic ink. Her approach to mark making is immediately evident - the visible process creates a sense of immediacy. The texture of the paper allows the crayon to both glide and catch, creating broken lines. These lines are overlaid in a seemingly chaotic arrangement. Look closely, and you'll see that the black ink scrawls at the top of the composition give way to vertical orange marks in the lower portion of the sheet. A pale pink underlay unifies the piece. Mitchell’s art is an ongoing dialogue with artists like Van Gogh, whose expressive brushwork she greatly admired. Like Van Gogh, Mitchell allows us to see the world not as it is, but as she experiences it. By embracing the ambiguity inherent in abstraction, she invites us to bring our own experiences to the work.