Ocean Park #46 1971

Richard Diebenkorn made *Ocean Park #46* with oil on canvas. When I look at this painting, I think about the push and pull of laying down the different shapes and colors. The canvas has a very light palette, where forms emerge with white, light blues and beiges. It makes me wonder what Diebenkorn was thinking at the time. He must have been asking himself ‘what’s the next move?’, trying to decide how the different shapes could fit together. You can almost see the ghost of prior shapes which the artist has worked over. Look at the bottom half of the work, how there is an implied triangular form underneath the surface of the paint. It’s a lot like the way that one idea can be layered on top of another. It’s all connected, you know? What we do in our studios is always inspired by the artwork of others. That is the ongoing conversation between artists. It is embodied expression, like a kind of beautiful, painterly conversation.