Untitled 1965

Editor: Here we have Jo Baer's "Untitled" from 1965. It's a painting, mostly pale off-white with a very thin, dark border. It’s so simple, it’s almost… empty. What do you see in this piece? Curator: I see a meticulous investigation of the pictorial surface. Note the subtle interplay between the central field and the surrounding band. It is a highly controlled, even restrained, composition. Editor: Restrained is a good word for it. Does that restraint have a purpose? Is it saying something? Curator: The purpose, as I see it, is to foreground the materiality of the paint itself, and how the elements of the artwork interrelate: surface, edge, and support. The subtle modulation of tone within the apparently monochrome field is, in fact, quite complex. Editor: So it’s not *really* monochrome? It just appears that way at first glance? Curator: Precisely. It is through sustained visual engagement that one appreciates Baer's subtle command of hue and texture. This calls into question the presumed stability of the picture plane, wouldn't you agree? Editor: I guess so, yeah. I hadn’t thought about it that way. It makes me want to spend more time with seemingly simple works like this to understand the nuances. Curator: Indeed, this piece elegantly reveals that simplicity can contain a wealth of formal and conceptual complexity. I find that realization very gratifying.