Blue Green and Violet 1967

Howard Mehring made this zig-zaggy hard-edged painting using clean lines and blocks of colour. I can imagine him carefully masking off each section, then filling it in with smooth, even layers of paint. I wonder what Howard was thinking when he chose this particular combination of blue, green, and violet, along with the pink, brown and yellow? The colours push against each other, creating a kind of visual vibration. The paint looks pretty thin, almost stained into the canvas, which gives the painting a sense of lightness, like a watercolour. I see these colours echoing through abstract art history, maybe reminding me a bit of the colour experiments of Josef Albers. Artists like Howard are in an ongoing dialogue across time. They are exploring the many ways painting can shape how we experience the world. Each gesture communicates feeling, intention, and meaning, opening up endless possibilities.