P. 449 1967

Gottfried Honegger made this painting, P. 449, with pigment— probably acrylic—on canvas, and he’s built it up into a rich, terracotta surface. It makes me think of an adobe wall baking in the desert sun. Look closely, and you’ll see subtle geometric forms embedded into the painting’s surface. I imagine Honegger layering thin washes of color, letting each layer dry before adding another, each mark a step in the painting’s unfolding. You know, making a painting is like having a conversation. The artist lays down a mark, then responds to it, and it just keeps going like that. I wonder, as Honegger made this, if he was thinking about the square as a kind of spiritual form, a way of organizing the chaos of the world. Maybe Agnes Martin came to mind, or maybe not at all! We painters are all in this ongoing dialogue, bumping into each other across time. What emerges is something new each time.