Tower of Birds 1949

Adja Yunkers created "Tower of Birds" with mixed media on paper, sometime around 1949, and the layered marks and translucent colors reveal a real sense of process. I love the way Yunkers lets the materials do their thing. You can see the texture of the paper coming through, adding a kind of rawness, a foundation to the work. The yellow rectangle in the background feels luminous. The darker marks read as a kind of abstracted totem, or maybe even a deconstructed body. I am drawn to that flash of turquoise; a bold, deliberate gesture that cuts through the more earthy tones. It kind of vibrates against the orange and browns, pulling the eye around the composition. Yunkers’ work reminds me a little of Joan Mitchell, in the sense that both artists used abstraction to express deeply felt emotions. But where Mitchell is expansive, Yunkers feels more contained, maybe even a bit mysterious. It’s a reminder that art doesn’t need to spell everything out; it’s okay to embrace the unknown and let the work speak in its own language.