Grey Ochre 1958

Antoni Tapies made this work, Grey Ochre, and the ochre feels like a beginning, the basis for something else to come, and in that sense it feels process-oriented, like a first step. Look closely and you can see how the texture becomes almost sculptural. It’s not just paint on a surface. Instead, the surface itself seems to be built up. The grey areas add a kind of cool restraint to all that earthiness. Then there are these little marks, like tiny commas, scattered across the lower half, giving a sense of rhythm, almost like musical notation. These kinds of earthy tones and constructed surfaces always make me think of Anselm Kiefer, who also builds up his surfaces with all sorts of materials. But where Kiefer is epic and dramatic, Tapies feels more intimate, more like a quiet conversation. With Tapies, the ambiguity is the point, and that's what makes it so alive.