Untitled No. 70 1960

Carl Buchheister made this painting, Untitled No. 70, with paint, but how he got it to look like this is the question. It’s got these creamy light blobs, and then these almost tar-like splodges of black, so it’s a monochromatic work in greyscale. You can really feel the process that he’s undergone. Looking at the way the paint has been applied, it’s almost like a photograph which has been solarised and then dissolved with some kind of caustic solution. I imagine the texture is fairly smooth, because the paint looks like it’s been poured or pooled rather than built up in layers. There’s a diagonal division cutting across the painting which adds a strange compositional element, creating a sense of depth, almost like a landscape or an aerial view of some distant planet. It reminds me a little bit of the paintings of Yves Tanguy, with their abstract otherworldly landscapes, full of strange forms and suggestive shapes. Art is always a conversation and the real meaning of a work is often found in the multiple possible readings it provokes.