Untitled, No. 137 1965

Olga Albizu made this painting with what looks like oil on canvas, using a palette of blues, purples, and browns in short, choppy strokes. It’s a real puzzle of color and form! I’m thinking that Albizu had a blast making this. The paint is thickly applied, creating a real sense of texture and depth, like she was digging into the canvas, trying to find something. I can imagine her moving the paint around, almost sculpting it, and then stepping back, considering it. The darker shapes feel almost like figures, caught mid-motion. The whole thing has a very musical rhythm. I wonder if Albizu was thinking about dance or music when she made it. It reminds me of some of the paintings by Alma Thomas, another artist who found ways to make abstraction sing. Artists are always in conversation with one another! These paintings embrace uncertainty, offering us a space to dream, speculate, and feel.