Untitled Possibly 1962

Curator: Well, I’m immediately drawn to the incredible energy in this piece. It’s like a solar flare captured on paper, isn’t it? Editor: That's an apt description. We're looking at an untitled work, tentatively dated to 1962, by Zao Wou-Ki. The available information indicates a mixed-media print—perhaps a monotype, lithograph, or etching—on paper. The confluence of techniques certainly demands a closer examination of the materiality of its creation. Curator: Indeed. The layers of yellow dominate, but notice the textured application—areas of translucent wash mingling with more opaque strokes. I imagine that the choice of printmaking allowed Zao Wou-Ki to play with these contrasting effects, especially considering its production date within the Abstract Expressionist movement. It would have also facilitated mass production, to reach more audiences and make it accessible to all kinds of classes and social strata. Editor: The socio-historical aspect of that production cannot be overlooked. The early 1960s were a volatile period. This abstract piece might be read in relation to the anxieties about social upheavals, Cold War tensions... Curator: An intriguing viewpoint, reading abstraction as political commentary! Yet I can’t help but come back to its sheer gestural quality, looking closer at its form. It also reminds me of landscapes as well: horizons, land formations and an overriding sky... all made available by those accessible, easy to reproduce forms of print. Editor: Yes, that gestural approach would relate Zao to the global phenomenon of painterly abstraction after 1945. Still, its reception had to shift culturally in different global centers... What one gallery could promote as individualistic freedom another establishment would view with ideological suspicion... Curator: These varying responses would further illuminate the political landscape of art consumption and collecting as well, absolutely. Seeing art's journey this way provides such necessary context. Editor: And appreciating Zao’s materials, the inks, the paper, the printing press opens up to the sheer labour required in bringing such a seemingly spontaneous gesture into public visibility and allows to further consider social class when we interpret artwork. Thank you for offering those thoughts today! Curator: My pleasure! These layered understandings add further significance for any observer, ourselves included.