Untitled 2004

Harriet Korman made this untitled painting with oil paint on canvas sometime after 1947, and it’s a real head-scratcher in the best way. Korman uses a limited color palette, almost like she’s working with a set of rules, but then breaks them just enough to keep things interesting. The surface is smooth, and the colors are laid down in flat, opaque shapes. You can almost feel the paint, thick and creamy, as if you could reach out and touch it. What I love is how the shapes overlap and intersect, creating new colors and forms. There’s a spot where a red circle meets a blue one, and the way they bleed into each other is just so satisfying. This piece reminds me a bit of Sol LeWitt’s wall drawings. Both artists share a love for geometric abstraction and a fascination with color. Korman doesn’t give us any easy answers. Instead, she invites us to get lost in the painting’s vibrant colors and playful forms.