Pink Mirror 1969

Ronald Davis made ‘Pink Mirror’ and who knows what materials he used, but it makes me think about the weirdness of objects. This diptych presents two colorful cube-like shapes, mirror images of each other, existing in some kind of bizarre, indeterminate space. Each form is built from planes of contrasting color, their surfaces mottled and speckled, like some strange and beautiful mold. Davis makes it look like the pink seeps into the hard-edged geometry, giving it that painterly realness. The color is, of course, key to the work, and these two shapes vibrate with the tension between the pale and the deep. I keep coming back to the surface, the texture, and how the paint seems to have been built up through layers of pours and splatters, each mark visible and distinct. The effect is of a controlled chaos. I find myself thinking of Larry Poons, and how his paintings toy with perception and illusion through color and form. 'Pink Mirror' is a reminder that abstract art can be both intellectual and deeply felt, offering us new ways of seeing and experiencing the world.