Untitled V 1962

Esteban Vicente’s "Untitled V" is made up of these striking marks in red and black. I can only imagine what it might have been like to stand there, brush in hand, working on this. It feels like he was working fast, pushing and pulling the ink across the surface, not afraid of what might happen. There is a lot of energy in those black strokes, almost like the material is fighting back, you know? Those bold marks have a real presence – a kind of physicality that invites you to really see the artwork. He's in conversation with folks like Motherwell, or Franz Kline, where abstraction becomes a language. They’re all searching for a way to make marks that aren’t descriptive, but somehow emotionally true. Like, what does grief LOOK like? You know? Painters, we are all just trying to figure stuff out, one brushstroke at a time. It's about the exchange of ideas across time, inspiring one another’s creativity.