Painted canvas fragment c. 20th century

Editor: So, this small "Painted Canvas Fragment" is by Barnett Newman, though we don't have a specific date. It's just a bit of canvas, roughly five by five and a half inches, with a single red stripe along one edge. What strikes you about it? Curator: The materiality is primary. Consider the raw canvas, its weave and texture. The addition of the red stripe introduces a formal element, a vertical zip as Newman called them, disrupting the field and activating the surface. Editor: Activating the surface, how so? Curator: The zip creates a tension. The eye is drawn to it, yet it is also repelled by the rough edge of the canvas. It is a dialectic between order and chaos, presence and absence. Editor: So, it's less about what it represents and more about what it *is*? Curator: Precisely. Newman sought to create an aesthetic experience, a pure encounter with the sublime through form and color. I find the fragment's incompleteness thought provoking. Editor: That's a helpful way to think about it, focusing on the canvas itself. Thanks!