Upper Yellow II (Lembark L73) 1964

This is Sam Francis’s “Upper Yellow II (Lembark L73)”, made with lithography. The artwork is a vibrant dance of color and form where vivid yellows, blues, reds, and greens playfully encircle a vast white space. The composition teeters between order and chaos, where splatters and drips seem random, yet create a structured visual experience. Francis destabilizes traditional notions of painting by allowing the white of the paper to become an active element, functioning as both ground and figure. The semiotic system at play suggests that the dabs and strokes of color could be seen as signs, each carrying its own energy and presence, contributing to a dynamic field of visual information. The lithographic technique itself becomes part of the discourse, enhancing the texture. This work challenges fixed meanings, prompting a continuous re-evaluation of how we perceive color, space, and the act of mark-making.