Around the Blues 1962

Curator: Well, what do you think? We’re standing in front of Sam Francis’s “Around the Blues,” created in 1962 with acrylic on canvas and displayed right here at the Tate Modern. It’s quite large, wouldn’t you say? Editor: Large indeed. I’m immediately struck by the vast, open whiteness. It almost feels more significant than the blues, even with such a title. Makes me wonder what the relationship is between that negative space and the application of blues. Is it a statement of emptiness? Curator: Possibly! I interpret that empty space not as a void but rather as an active participant, something filled with potential and brimming with light. When you get up close, you really can see the frenetic energy in the way he applied those blues – the drips and splashes reveal his process so viscerally. The blues aren't contained at all, they seep into and shape the overall viewing experience. Editor: Right. It’s not contained but also feels incredibly deliberate. Considering the social context, the rising wave of consumerism in the '60s—how does that context speak to this idea of process over product, particularly with acrylics being more available and maybe 'cheap' in a way? Curator: Fascinating. I think it comes back to Francis’s emphasis on pure feeling. This is not about slick surfaces but about translating internal experience directly onto the canvas. The visible labor then becomes the key, right? And the deliberate blankness really lets that process pop. Editor: Absolutely. Thinking about it more, that tension creates something. The 'cheap' material supports the accessibility, but that artistic energy turns it into something more contemplative. Is he trying to engage or perhaps critique consumption of color and the labor in it at all, or does it just represent the energy he brings? Curator: I see his focus as much more about emotion – about making the viewer experience that emotion physically, not just intellectually. Which ties it back to the title itself: ‘Around the Blues’. Is he surrounding the blues, examining the idea, or simply using this arrangement to process what "the blues" feels like? I imagine the allover painting is crucial for total emotional submersion of the self. Editor: That’s quite a point, total emotional submersion using fairly manufactured and even 'accessible' components like acrylic paint on a canvas. Curator: Indeed, the contrast brings tension. The tension brings thought. Now, do you feel less sad than when we first started? Editor: Debatable, but I'm surely less blue than I was when approaching the work! Thanks.