My Country 2007

Sally Gabori made "My Country" using bright colors, probably acrylic on canvas, and it feels like a direct, almost childlike, way of putting paint on a surface. This isn’t a weakness, but a strength. The materiality of the paint is really upfront. You can see the marks of the brush, the texture of each stroke. This emphasis gives the piece a real sense of immediacy, and almost a feeling of being immersed in the landscape of Gabori’s homeland. Look at the way that intense pink pushes against the turquoise, and the small dark shape in the middle. It's like a cave or some kind of portal, inviting us to wonder what it contains. "My Country" reminds me a bit of the work of Forrest Bess, a painter who also came to art from a place of pure intuition. Both artists seem to be channeling something primal and deeply personal. It’s a reminder that art can be about opening up possibilities rather than closing them down with fixed interpretations.