Untitled #1 1987

Sam Francis made this untitled painting with ink and acrylic on paper. It’s like a cosmic soup, a bunch of colorful blobs floating in space. You can almost imagine the painting coming into being, shifting and emerging through trial, error, and intuition. I sympathize with Francis! What was it like to make this? Maybe he just let his mind wander, letting the ink do its thing. Look at how thin the paint is in some places and thick in others, especially the big blue shape. I wonder if he was thinking about cells under a microscope? Maybe some of these colorful spots are planets or stars. I love how artists are in an ongoing conversation and exchange of ideas across time, inspiring one another’s creativity. For me, painting embraces ambiguity and uncertainty, allowing for multiple interpretations. What do you see?