12 Part Line Painting 1984

Alan Charlton made this "12 Part Line Painting" from… well, we don’t know exactly when. But it's all about the gray, and the making. Look at the surface. It's flat, right? But then you see how the paint catches the light just so, and you realize it's not just gray, it’s a whole world of gray. It’s like Charlton is saying, hey, let’s just look at this color and see what it can do. Each line, each panel is just a little bit different, the paint a little thicker, a little thinner. It’s not about hiding the process, but about letting it be what it is. I’m reminded of Agnes Martin, stripping things down to the essential, but in Charlton there is a solidity, a kind of quiet presence. It's almost like he's asking, what do we really need? What’s enough? And maybe the answer is, twelve gray lines are plenty.