Untitled c. 1940s - 1950s

This is an untitled work on paper by Franz Kline, and he’s gone to town with black ink to create a dynamic, almost architectural space. You know, looking at it, I think about process—you can feel the artist figuring it out as he goes, those marks, they aren’t precious or labored, they are bold and intuitive. The paper is stained, it’s absorbent, you can see the way the ink bleeds. It's like a performance. See that dark stroke that cascades down from the center? It’s forceful and immediate, it feels like the essence of painting distilled. Kline’s work reminds me of Robert Motherwell, that same urgency and directness, but it's also different; looser, more intimate. What’s so cool about art is how it holds onto possibilities. We can keep looking at it, keep thinking, and it opens up.