Untitled 1949

This untitled piece by Sam Francis, it looks like it was made using black ink on paper. I can imagine Francis moving the brush across the surface, allowing the ink to pool and bleed, creating this contrast between light and dark. He’s making a landscape, maybe, but also he's making a feeling, a drama of opposites, like a balancing act, teetering, a lot like making a painting. It reminds me of Franz Kline, with these bold, sweeping strokes and the way the black shapes seem to hover against the white ground. It’s like they're both in this conversation about how to make space and form with just a few simple gestures. You know, how to create something monumental out of the most basic materials. And that’s what makes painting so cool, right? It’s always evolving, always challenging us to see things in new ways.