Beside the Sea 1966

Curator: I’m struck by the way this monochrome image evokes a minimalist landscape. Editor: Welcome, everyone. Today, we’re looking at Robert Motherwell’s “Beside the Sea,” an acrylic on canvas created in 1966. Curator: Well, the title certainly makes sense. The lower green bar reads immediately as a coastline, something solid and material, and the sandy blotch feels like a muted sun struggling to break through a hazy atmosphere. But that green streak – it pierces the tranquil scene. What’s the story there? Editor: Motherwell was deeply influenced by the sociopolitical context of his time, particularly the rise of Abstract Expressionism as a response to the anxieties of the Cold War era. We have to remember that even the simplest forms can hold deep historical meanings and gendered expectations. Curator: How so? Is it relevant to analyze that gender, power, and labor dynamics were deeply embedded in this work's process? How can we relate those processes back to its emotional resonance? The very visible brushstrokes show it was made by hand, and yet those actions are divorced from clear political gestures. Editor: Perhaps the point is less about clear gestures and more about feeling. Remember the era’s prevailing themes, Curator! Motherwell engaged with existentialism and its search for meaning in an absurd world. Curator: I recognize those narratives. But by bringing process into the equation, can we consider whether it is about individual angst, and instead think of what kind of labor went into extracting those pigments, or producing the tools and machines needed to stretch this canvas? Editor: The artist’s touch becomes a gesture loaded with social resonance. However, Motherwell himself claimed his art reflected the realities of the self and contemporary life. Curator: Which does speak volumes in this context! Even now, such spare paintings continue to resonate powerfully as investigations into art's construction of social values. What better place than an exploration such as this one to conclude with? Editor: Indeed, analyzing artworks like Motherwell’s "Beside the Sea" leads to further comprehension of mid-century production methods, art making processes, and our relationship with commodities and creative work, itself.