Utopia Study #18 1975

This is Benny Andrews's Utopia Study #18. Look at the combination of fine pen lines, collage, and the soft watercolor washes; I bet this piece came together bit by bit, with Andrews responding to each layer as it emerged. I can imagine Benny Andrews hovering over this work, shifting between detailed line work and broad, intuitive washes of color. What might he have been thinking? Maybe he was imagining a new world, a “Utopia,” with figures and symbols emerging from his subconscious? He's really playing with layering and texture here. The collage element in the bottom corner creates an area of warmth against the cool of the paper. It reminds me of the way Guston used to layer meaning in his late work, using simple forms to convey complex ideas. Ultimately, this piece feels like a moment captured in an ongoing artistic conversation. Painting always has that wonderful ambiguity, that openness to multiple readings.