"Cool" Series No. 15 (The Very End) 1963

Perle Fine painted "Cool" Series No. 15, also known as "The Very End," with, what looks like, oil paint, and rectangles. You know, when I'm staring at a painting, I like to think about the doing of it, the *making* of it. Check out that horizontal band of turquoise. It's not just a block of color; it's got this slightly scrubbed texture, almost like she was pushing the paint around, letting the layers underneath peek through. It's thin in places, thick in others. Then you notice the blue rectangle that doesn’t quite make it all the way across, like the shapes are trying to find each other. That cool gray at the top is a nice counterpoint to the blues, but look closely and you might see other colours hiding there. I love the way she lets the process show, the little imperfections and variations, all the good stuff! It reminds me a bit of Agnes Martin, but with a little more…oomph! It’s a dance, right? The shapes, the colors, the textures—they're all talking to each other, and to us.