Laughing Eye 1970

Pat Lipsky made this piece, Laughing Eye, with paint that seems to revel in its own fluidity. The colors are intense, almost playfully clashing – reds, yellows, blues – all bleeding into each other. The surface isn't overworked; instead, there's a sense of immediacy, a directness that feels refreshingly honest. You can almost see the moment the paint hit the surface, each drop and splatter telling its own story. Look at how the yellow merges with the red, creating this fiery burst, like a fleeting moment of joy captured in pigment. It reminds me a bit of Helen Frankenthaler, in the way that Lipsky seems to embrace the unpredictable nature of her materials. I love that the meaning of art resides in the doing, in the conversation between the artist and the medium, rather than in some pre-determined idea. It’s a process of discovery.