Surfscape #3 1958

Perle Fine made this painting, Surfscape #3, with oils on canvas. See how she's built up these patches of color, one beside the other? It's almost like she's piecing together a puzzle, but with brushstrokes instead of cardboard. I love the way the whites and grays mix with these surprising pops of yellow and green. It gives me a kind of fractured feeling, like looking at the ocean through a broken mirror. The paint isn't trying to hide itself. You can see how she’s layered it on, thick in some places, thin in others, leaving a record of her process. If you look closely at the lower left corner, you'll see these looping white lines that feel like scribbles. To me, they are like the foamy crest of a wave crashing. Fine was part of that Abstract Expressionist generation, but I think of someone like Joan Mitchell when I see this painting, another artist unafraid to wrestle with paint and find something beautiful in the chaos. It's a reminder that art is always a conversation, an ongoing exchange of ideas and feelings.