Fly Away 1992

Al Held made this watercolor, Fly Away, with gorgeous, translucent colors on paper. Just imagine him in the studio, maybe listening to jazz, trying one shape, then another, the whole thing shifting and emerging through trial and error. I sympathize with Al, trying to get these shapes to sit together, pushing and pulling the forms. The colors create such a mood, like a hot sunset filtered through a hazy sky. The paint looks thin, almost like a stain, letting the light of the paper shine through. Look at that little triangle of yellow nestled inside the green circle; it’s like a tiny jewel, catching the light. Al’s work reminds me of other painters who were trying to find new ways of seeing, like Frank Stella or even Agnes Martin, with their geometric abstraction. Artists are always in conversation, trading ideas across time. Painting is such an embodied expression, full of ambiguity. It allows for multiple interpretations, meaning that we, as viewers, can bring our own experiences to the work, creating new meanings each time we look.