Accordment Series #15: On Its Way 1977

Curator: Well, look at this lovely piece by Perle Fine, entitled "Accordment Series #15: On Its Way," created in 1977. It's acrylic on canvas, very much playing in the Colour Field tradition, isn’t it? Editor: It does. At first glance, it gives me a sense of gentle rain, or maybe sun filtering through pastel curtains. It's incredibly soothing. What strikes you immediately about it? Curator: For me, it’s the rhythm. The interplay of those vertically oriented, pale, somewhat diluted hues, evokes textile production to me: perhaps a factory turning out patterned cloth, where the aesthetic pleasure exists directly beside an engagement with industrial processes. Editor: Industrial... Hmm. I hadn’t thought about it in terms of mass production. It’s more intuitive, maybe. The uneven edges of each stripe – almost like watercolor washes – create this sense of impermanence, a feeling that it's all a bit transitory. Curator: It is. But that translucency—allowing the underpainting to show—it's about the layers of material. Look closely; you can see the evidence of each stage in its creation. What can that layering reveal about Perle Fine’s artistic decisions? Her relationship with her materials? Editor: I suppose the layers evoke the idea of memories accumulating, with softer shades gently blurring into each other like a daydream. Curator: And, of course, she was deeply embedded within the New York art scene. Her work speaks to the conversations happening then: the dematerialization of the art object, challenging traditional distinctions between “high” art and the more hands-on, often feminized realms of craft. Editor: You're right. Thinking of it that way, it does become more substantial. Like a subtle manifesto woven with pale blues, peach, and green. Still…those colors. Curator: They do temper the politics with such tenderness, don't they? All these quiet processes quietly interacting, making meaning that's neither easily consumed nor forgotten. Editor: Absolutely. The way materiality subtly conveys a broader idea adds such fascinating dimensions to something so visually harmonious. Curator: Indeed, an object of production transformed into a beautiful, thought-provoking statement.