Diamond Pinwheel 1964

Ronald Davis’s “Diamond Pinwheel” is a dance of shape and hue. Davis has a very particular sensibility; his colors are somehow always both saturated and flat, industrial yet handmade. I find myself fixated on the central point where these planes intersect. There's a sliver of yellow there, almost a hiccup in the otherwise smooth surface. It's like a secret key that unlocks the whole composition. Look at the way the light bounces off those hard edges, creating these phantom shapes within shapes. You know, the way the actual materials feel, the slickness, contributes to the artwork's conceptual framework. Davis's work is kind of like a bridge between the hard-edge abstraction of the '60s and something a bit more… playfull. It makes me think a little of Sol Lewitt, but with a groovy, West Coast vibe. In the end, art is always a conversation, and Davis is inviting us to join in with this ambiguous, vibrant invitation.