Grand Street 1969

This is Brice Marden’s “Grand Street,” and it's like he’s mixed up a batch of quietude and spread it right here. The colours are whispery, like memories or a soft-spoken secret, and the surface has this gentle, almost suede-like feel to it. Looking closer, you can see the layers, the way one colour peeks out from under another. It's not about hiding the process, but letting it breathe. Look at that central panel of pink, it's not just pink, it's a whole history of pinks, layered one on top of the other. There’s a funny conversation happening with Agnes Martin. She, too, was interested in simple forms and quiet colour, but Marden gives us this real sense of process, of touch. He is concerned with the texture of feelings.