Untitled 1968

This untitled piece from 1968 was made by Marcelle Cahn, but I can't tell you what it's made of. The thing that catches my eye is the super clear colour palette – a Mondrian-esque yellow, red, blue and green. It's so simple and playful, like a kindergarten classroom but with an edge. The shapes are hard edged, almost collaged. The blocks of colour stack up and dance. Look at the top left – there's a red triangle almost kissing a black circle. It’s so close but not quite touching. It suggests a kind of tension, a desire for connection. There’s a grid in the background, which feels like a subtle nod to structure, but the shapes themselves ignore that structure completely. You see this kind of playfulness in the work of Sophie Taeuber-Arp. It’s art that doesn’t take itself too seriously, but still manages to ask really important questions about space, form, and how we see the world.