Red Frieze 1952 - 1954

Willi Baumeister made this print called Red Frieze, and it's this sort of rose-y world filled with playful shapes. I can imagine him in his studio, pushing the ink around on the plate, making marks, adding color, and then seeing what happens when it's printed on the sheet. It is a conversation between intention and accident; intuition and control. I wonder if he was looking at Paul Klee? I see a little bit of that whimsical, sort of childlike playfulness. There's a black triangle pointing downwards, like a dark cloud but then there are dancing, curving lines that suggest movement and maybe even joy. The red itself feels warm and inviting. I feel like I can understand something about Baumeister’s mind through this process of seeing and thinking. And that's what paintings can do, open up spaces in our minds.