Life and Love 2010

John Hoyland made this painting called Life and Love with big gestures and a mostly blue palette, maybe even using his whole body to make those marks, like a dance on canvas. I imagine him standing in front of it, lost in thought, maybe wondering how to bring this feeling to life. I can see him throwing paint, letting it drip, and building up layers of texture, like he's wrestling with the thing, trying to make it breathe. That splatter of white and the way it bleeds into the blue? It's like a raw nerve, a moment of pure feeling caught in paint. And then there's that blob of orange and green, like a weird sun, or some kind of strange, internal organ. Hoyland and artists like Helen Frankenthaler, they were all talking to each other through their paintings, pushing the boundaries of what paint can do. It’s not just about making something pretty, it’s about digging into something real, even if it’s messy and uncertain.