Triangular Fugue VII 1965

John Dowell made this, Triangular Fugue VII with loose, gestural marks in a warm palette of black and orange. It's like watching a jazz performance. The shapes bounce around the page, and the black feels a little like it's trying to block or interrupt the orange. I can imagine Dowell in the studio, maybe with some music on, responding to the canvas with each stroke. Was he trying to capture a feeling, an emotion, or a fleeting moment? It feels pretty intuitive. He's not trying to paint things representationally, more trying to capture the spirit. I keep thinking of musicians riffing off each other, each trying to push the boundaries. Dowell's mark-making feels connected to other abstract painters who embraced the freedom of gesture. I like that painting can be this record of a body in space and time. He is using it as a form of expression, leaving us with an artifact of an action. It’s a reminder that art is always a conversation, a back-and-forth between artists across time.