Buffalo Dance 1973

Joyce Kozloff created this painting, Buffalo Dance, with patterned blocks of colour. It's like a quilt, a real puzzle of shapes and colours. I imagine her, brush in hand, carefully layering each block, making decisions as she goes, a real conversation between the colours, textures and shapes. Look how the horizontal lines of blues and greens are placed next to the verticals of reddish browns. The overall effect is so interesting! Kozloff's work is often about pattern and decoration, she’s interested in non-western art forms, the ways that geometric shapes can create a sense of movement and rhythm, a kind of dance. And this ‘Buffalo Dance’ is no exception. It reminds me of the work of other pattern-based painters, but she’s got her own thing going on, this mix of playfulness and seriousness, an ongoing conversation about the joy of mark-making, colour, and form. It’s like she’s saying, "Hey, let's have some fun with paint!"