Summer Play 1962

Lee Krasner made Summer Play, with paint of course, but when and where, I don’t know, but, gee, I wish I did. It's a field of reds, oranges, and whites, with Krasner's characteristic gestural marks building up the surface. You can imagine her in the studio, wrestling with the canvas, layering, scraping, and pushing the paint around until it starts to sing. I get such a kick imagining what it was like for Krasner to make this, figuring out what worked, what didn't, then adding something, taking something away. The paint looks pretty thin in places, almost staining the canvas, but then thicker elsewhere. In this painting there’s this dynamic, explosive energy that feels very Krasner, very raw and authentic. Krasner and other artists have passed down their know-how to future generations, building on each other's ideas and approaches. Each painting is like a conversation starter, a way of thinking through doing, that’s always unfolding.