Untitled 1972

David Novros made this untitled watercolor, a composition of geometric rectangles, on paper. Looking at this, I’m thinking about the quiet conversations that happen when you’re alone in the studio. It's a dialogue with color and form, but also a wrestling match with doubt and intuition. The off-white background feels like a space of possibility, of not-knowing, allowing the colors to hover and breathe. I wonder, what was Novros searching for as he built this arrangement? The matte quality of the watercolor gives the shapes a tactile presence; they’re not just colors, but fields of experience. They assert themselves quietly. The brown block is really speaking to me - the way it is slightly off-kilter feels so right, and connects him to other geometric and minimalist painters like Agnes Martin and even Sol Lewitt. It’s like a visual poem and makes me want to get back to painting.