Untitled 1973

This Untitled work was made by Herman Cherry in 1973, and looks like it was made using crayon or oil pastel. I imagine Cherry’s hand moving, building up layers of pigment to create these geometric shapes. The square of blue sits as a kind of portal, and the block of green and yellow below it feels like land or an open horizon. I sympathize with Cherry here, wondering what he was thinking when he put down that concentrated blot of crimson in the centre. It feels like the heart of the work, a focal point that draws the eye and the emotions. The texture of the crayon gives the painting a tactile quality. Thinking about his wider practice, and the work of other painters like Rothko or even Agnes Martin, this piece feels like part of an ongoing exploration of colour and form. Artists are in constant dialogue, aren’t they? Sharing ideas and inspiring each other across time. Painting, at its best, is all about embracing ambiguity and uncertainty, allowing for endless interpretations, rather than settling on one fixed meaning.