Untitled (September 22) 1964

Editor: Mmm, that's serene. A lemon chiffon dessert in visual form. What are we looking at here? Curator: This is “Untitled (September 22)” from 1964, a painting by Lorser Feitelson. It's representative of the hard-edge painting style popular during that time. The medium itself invites a conversation around industrial materials and the blurring of lines between production and creation. Editor: Hard-edge! That’s a funny way to describe something so, well, smooth. I mean look at those pale fields nudging each other and those delicate golden lines weaving about. Almost looks botanical, like an elegantly stylized bloom. Curator: Indeed, despite the seemingly minimalist design, the effect is achieved through careful manipulation. Think about the kind of tape needed to get these clean divisions; what the effect does to elevate simple industrial paints on raw canvas. The focus here is to remove gesture entirely, making the medium itself the focal point, the content of the art. Editor: Maybe it's a minimalist’s garden then? Seriously, I can see a lot of labour hiding beneath that seemingly sparse composition. It’s odd, it’s like looking at nothing but the potential to blossom, distilled to a pure form of expectation. The lines are more hopeful than firm. Curator: That's precisely the contradiction it wants us to confront. These weren't mass-produced prints, of course; the artist's labor is deliberately obscured to promote a discussion around consumerism and perception. Editor: Fascinating! So, is this Feitelson nudging us toward awareness, presenting simplicity only as an intellectual challenge and labour process reflection? That's very cheeky of him. I think I was wrong, not lemon chiffon, this is far more dry with it's hidden meaning! Curator: Precisely, this tension gives the artwork its dynamism. Reflecting back to us our perceptions and the silent machinations of artistic intent that might easily go unnoticed.