Swatches c. 1939

Catherine Fowler, who lived an impressively long life, made this piece, Swatches, with some kind of paint on paper. I love how the image embraces repetition with slight variations, like a visual mantra. It's all about the process. You can almost feel Fowler experimenting with different patterns, letting one idea lead to the next. The colors are muted, earthy—reds, browns, creams—creating a sense of warmth, like old textiles or faded wallpaper. Look at the bottom-middle swatch, how the spirals create a dizzying sense of movement, yet it’s all contained within this small rectangle. The density of the marks is such that you imagine this person really enjoying the repetitive actions. The piece is about exploring the possibilities within a limited framework. It reminds me a bit of the pattern paintings of someone like Joyce Kozloff, but with a quieter, more intimate feel. It's a testament to the endless possibilities of artmaking.