Abstract #318 1947

Myron Kozman made this abstract print on paper, with overlapped shapes in a muted, earthy palette. I wonder about the process of layering, the way each colour and form informs the others. You can almost feel Kozman puzzling out how to make it work, intuitively adjusting the composition, watching it emerge through trial, error, and intuition. I imagine Kozman in the studio, thinking about how these shapes might speak to each other. Is that blue triangle trying to have a conversation with that olive green blob? The material aspects of painting are at play here, for sure. The surface almost feels like worn cloth with those subtle textures. Each gesture, like that winding white snake, is loaded with potential meaning. Kozman’s part of an ongoing exchange, a lineage that goes way back and stretches far into the future. And what’s so amazing is that painting is this embodied expression that is also open, ambiguous. There are no fixed meanings, just endless possibilities.