Bee 1999

Jennifer Bartlett made this thing called 'Bee', and I'm totally buzzing about its process. It's like she built it up with countless tiny marks, hatching and cross-hatching, mostly in greens, that feels like a visual diary of her movements. The materiality of this piece is super present. The surface seems almost alive with texture, thanks to the physical act of layering paint. Look how she’s used this sort of wiry, electric yellow. It almost zips right out at you! There's this one spot near the bottom left where the colors kind of pool together, and it makes me wonder if she paused there, maybe considering where to go next. Bartlett reminds me a bit of Agnes Martin, in the sense that both artists use repetition and small gestures to create this really intense, meditative feeling. But where Martin is all calm and serene, Bartlett feels more like a hive of activity. Art is like a conversation, right?