Korfu 1965

Thomas Downing made this painting, Korfu, using acrylic on canvas. Look at how the circles hover on the canvas, each like a little world, perfectly contained yet also jostling for space. It’s a straightforward approach, almost like a chart or a map, but with so much room for color to do its thing. The surface is smooth, almost flat, which makes the colors pop even more. There's something about the way the paint sits so calmly; it’s like Downing is saying, "Here are the colors, deal with it." See how each circle has its own texture and depth despite the uniformity? The bottom left circle, that deep green, feels like it goes on forever, while its neighbor is a lighter more cheerful teal. Downing seems to be in conversation with artists like Kenneth Noland or even Josef Albers, all playing with color and form, but in his own cool way. It’s a reminder that art is an ongoing experiment, an endless conversation between artists across time.