Thira 1980

This is Brice Marden, with what looks like oil on canvas. I imagine Marden, in his studio, wrestling with these colours, pushing them around, trying to find that balance between structure and fluidity. These vertical bands of colour, like windows, feel so solid, but then there's a subtle layering. You can see the ghost of the layers underneath. The surface has texture, it is not flat; he clearly coaxed the paint into being, and the way the colours meet – or don't – creates this vibration. It has a pulse! I wonder if he was thinking about Rothko’s stacks of colour, but wanting to make it more architectural? In the end, the rectangles create tension, and speak to the way abstract shapes and geometric patterns can communicate emotion. Marden’s work reminds us that artists are always in conversation with each other, borrowing, stealing, and transforming ideas across time. The conversation keeps going...