Rite of Spring 1985

Ronnie Landfield made this painting, Rite of Spring, with acrylic, and it feels so open. The dominant colours are these soft yellows, pinks and lavenders, flowing into each other. I imagine Landfield in the studio, pushing the paint around, letting it drip and blend, and seeing what emerges, a landscape, maybe? It’s all about that central image and the colours that evoke this… blooming feeling. I see Helen Frankenthaler in the soak-stain method, and I wonder if Landfield was thinking about her or other colour-field painters at the time? The shapes aren't sharply defined, but flow into each other like watercolors. Then there are these hard-edge blocks of colour at the edges of the canvas, which seem to frame it, a more recent practice. Those hard lines really play off against the soft forms in the middle of the painting. It reminds me that painting is always evolving and the artists are in constant dialogue, taking notes from each other, building on what's come before and finding their own voice.