Canto VI 1963

Barnett Newman made "Canto VI," a print in black and white. There's something about the way Newman lays down this black that feels both immediate and considered. It's a field of dark, but it's not just flat – you can see the texture, the way the ink or paint has been applied, almost like layers of thought. Then, bam! That white stripe, that "zip" as he called it, cutting through the darkness. It's not perfect, it wavers and breathes, it's human. In some ways the zip is like a question that runs through the whole image. It relates to the black field but it also pushes against it. Newman's work reminds me a bit of Agnes Martin, in the sense that both artists find the sublime in the simplest of forms. There's no fixed meaning here, just a space for contemplation, a reminder that art is always an ongoing conversation.