Redness of Red 1985

Robert Motherwell made this print called "Redness of Red," and you can almost feel him pushing around the viscous red ink with a squeegee. He's really going for it, isn’t he? It’s like he’s saying, what can red be, what can it do? Red rectangle! Red background! Even a little blob of red up at the top! Then he’s playing against that redness with collaged musical scores, cut paper, and black ink. What was he thinking? Maybe he just wanted to put some music into the redness. The redness has a definite vibe – it's confident and self-assured. It wants to be taken seriously. This print reminds me of other abstract painters like Helen Frankenthaler or even Matisse. These artists are all in conversation with one another, pushing the boundaries of color and form, expressing themselves in their own unique ways. And ultimately, I think that's what art is all about: expressing something in a way that only you can.