For Thirteen (SFS-335) 1989

Sam Francis made For Thirteen using bright colors and gestural marks. Just imagine the dance of creation here: shifting, emerging, trial, error, intuition! I sympathize with Francis – what was he thinking when he made it? I mean, those colors and their placement feel loaded with intention. The paint looks thin, allowing for a kind of transparency that is so characteristic of Francis's work, which is a kind of conversation with the surface. Look at those drips and splatters—each one so expressive! It’s like he's transmitting feeling, or meaning, directly onto the canvas. I'm thinking about Helen Frankenthaler's soak-stain technique when I look at this piece. And, of course, the legacy of Kandinsky is alive and well here. Painters are in an ongoing conversation and exchange of ideas across time, inspiring one another’s creativity. Painting is a form of embodied expression which embraces ambiguity and uncertainty, allowing for multiple interpretations and meaning over fixed or definitive readings.