Kadmiumrot - Picadilly 1991

Kuno Gonschior made "Kadmiumrot - Picadilly" with cadmium red paint. Imagine the meditative act of dabbing each little dot on the canvas—methodical, building up the surface, a field of red on a field of... off-white. I wonder, was Gonschior thinking about pointillism, or maybe the way pixels make up an image? Or was he just really into red? There is such a dedication to this piece. It makes me think of Agnes Martin's grids, but with a kind of obsessive, almost handmade quality that feels very different. There is something both soothing and slightly unnerving about this painting. It’s like looking at a swarm, or a field of poppies. Painting is like this, isn't it? You start with an idea, a color, and then you just keep going, adding, subtracting, until something emerges. And sometimes, that something is a surprise. Painting is a conversation and an exchange of ideas.