Untitled (P280) 1967

This untitled painting by Gene Davis is all about vertical stripes, each one painted with a clean, confident edge. It's like he's mapping out a musical score, with each color hitting a different note. Looking closely, you can see how the surface has this almost industrial smoothness, the paint is thin and even, no brushstrokes to be seen, which gives the painting a certain cool detachment. Davis seems to be interested in the purity of color and form, rather than any kind of expressive gesture. There's this one section, over to the right, where the blues and pinks start to vibrate against each other. It creates a visual buzz, like a chord change that wakes you up. Davis reminds me a little of Agnes Martin, in the way that he uses repetition and simple forms to create something that's both calming and energizing. It's art that invites you to get lost in the rhythm, to find your own meaning in the spaces between the lines.