Untitled 1967

Ray Parker made this untitled painting with what looks like acrylic on canvas. The colours are muted and earthy—red, brown, blue, and green. I imagine Parker layering these amorphous shapes one on top of the other, maybe trying different combinations until something clicked. It's interesting how the soft edges of each shape create a sense of movement, as if they're floating or gently colliding. There's a casualness to the forms which feels very intuitive and of the moment. The colours create a really specific mood—calm but with a hint of something melancholic. I wonder if Parker was thinking about landscape, or maybe just exploring how these particular colours play off each other. I like how the green anchors the whole composition, providing a base for the other shapes to dance around. It’s all about feeling his way through the painting, one shape at a time. It reminds me of the paintings of Milton Avery, who similarly worked with simplified shapes and colour to evoke a mood. Painting is this ongoing conversation, isn't it? We're all just riffing off each other, trying to figure things out, making our own little contributions to this big, messy, beautiful thing called art.