Barns 1926

A.Y. Jackson made this painting, Barns, using oil on canvas and you can tell that the act of painting itself—how it has come into being—is a process that shifts and emerges through trial, error, and intuition. I sympathize with the artist. I think it’s a material process that involves texture, color, and surface—and the physicality of the medium—that shapes our experience of the painting. I imagine he might have been thinking of how the red-brown of the barns contrast with the violet snow, and how the painting communicates feeling, intention, or meaning. The gesture of the clouds above is a form of embodied expression, which embraces ambiguity and uncertainty, allowing for multiple interpretations and meaning. Artists are in an ongoing conversation and exchange of ideas across time, inspiring one another’s creativity. It is interesting to see how A. Y. Jackson explores new ideas that build upon a foundation of artistic knowledge and insight.