The Center 1943

Richard Pousette-Dart made this painting, The Center, with loose gestural marks and a palette of earthy grays, blacks, and whites, punctuated by the occasional circle of bold colour. I can imagine Pousette-Dart in his studio, coaxing this image into being, a process of layering and excavation. It reminds me of a conversation between the artist and the canvas, where the painting shifts and emerges through a dance of intention and accident. I wonder if he felt like he was building a world, a cosmos of forms and shapes all orbiting some unseen center. I love the splattery marks of thin paint, colliding into one another, building up the surface with these wild and intuitive forms. It’s as though each brushstroke carries a thought, a feeling, a fleeting moment of inspiration. Pousette-Dart, like other abstract expressionists, was in conversation with his peers as well as with the art of the past. He was constantly pushing the boundaries of painting. The spirit of free experimentation allows for many interpretations and celebrates the joy of looking.