Untitled 1939

This untitled painting on board was made by Charles G. Shaw sometime in the mid-twentieth century. Shaw lays down a hazy blue ground, and over that, a constellation of shapes begin to float. I love how the simple forms—circles, ovals, lines—create this feeling of play. It’s as if Shaw is building a language from scratch, each shape a letter, each color a tone. I bet he was smiling to himself as he made it. Take that big yellow amoeba-like shape with its purple center. What is it? A sun? A cell? The texture is amazing, the paint sitting just on the surface, while the blue peeks through, making it feel old and new at the same time. That little white flag with an X—a signal of sorts? Painting like this always reminds me that we're all in this huge conversation, reaching back and forth across time. You can almost feel the joy Shaw experienced while making this, and it makes you want to pick up a brush and join in, too.