Untitled (Suite 'Blancs') 1973

Here is 'Untitled (Suite 'Blancs')' by Simon Hantai, but when, I don't know. What I do know is that Hantai was all about the process, which is totally visible in this piece, right? The surface is teeming with tiny marks, like confetti after a parade, each a little burst of color. The paint looks thin, almost stained into the canvas, with a background that peeks through. The colors are muted, like they've been bleached by the sun, but then you see a flicker of orange, or a dab of purple, and it wakes you up. Look closely at how these dabs of color are distributed— it is a kind of all-over field, but somehow it still feels very gentle, almost like an old tapestry or even a field of small flowers. Hantai's work always felt like a conversation with painting’s history, especially someone like Matisse, but he pushed it further, into something totally unique. It’s not just about what you see, but how you see it, a constant dance of looking and feeling.