Untitled 1950

Sam Francis made this 'Untitled' painting using broad gestural marks of ink wash on paper. I imagine him working on the floor, with big brushes and buckets of thinned black pigment. It looks as though the black ink was laid down first as a kind of frame, and then the center was filled in with watery washes. I imagine he was thinking about the contrast between control and accident, about how to make something that looks both intentional and spontaneous. The ink bleeds and pools in ways that are both beautiful and unexpected. In the end, what interests me most is how Francis uses the push and pull of black and white to create a work that is both grounded and ethereal. He’s in conversation with a whole history of painters, from the Abstract Expressionists to the Zen calligraphers. It's a conversation about the possibilities of painting itself.