Woolhara 1986

Albert Irvin made this painting, Woolhara, with bright colours and bold gestures, but when? I imagine him in the studio, moving around the canvas, maybe on the floor, maybe on the wall. You can see where he laid down stripes of yellow, blue, and orange, and then responded with these scumbles and blotches of paint around them. It’s like a visual call and response. The paint isn't too thick, but it's juicy, and it feels so physical. I love the dark brown bar sitting on top of the colourful dashes. What did he want that to do? Irvin’s got this conversation going with colour and form. It reminds me a bit of Howard Hodgkin, you know? How all these painters are bouncing ideas off each other across time. It's just paint, but it's also a way of thinking and feeling out loud. So what do *you* feel when you look at this painting?