Espacio combinado #4 2002

Pablo Rey made this small painting, Espacio Combinado #4, with ink and colored pencil, maybe at his home. It's all about lines and shapes, dancing across a white ground, like thoughts in your head. I’m thinking about Rey making this. Did he start with the black lines, letting them wander and loop? Then adding spots of color—a red circle, a green squiggle—almost as an afterthought. There's a real conversation happening here, between the deliberate mark and the spontaneous gesture. I love how the colored pencil marks are so direct, not trying to blend or hide. The color is like its own line. It reminds me a little bit of Cy Twombly's playfulness, or maybe even Joan Miró's dreamlike forms. All of us artists are always riffing off each other, even if we don’t know it. This piece feels like a note in a visual diary, an experiment in seeing where the hand wants to go. And that’s kind of beautiful, right?