Untitled 1949

This untitled work was created by Joan Ponç, sometime in the mid-20th century. What strikes me right away is the dreamlike quality, the way the forms seem to emerge from the background, rather than being rigidly defined. It really speaks to the kind of artmaking that embraces process and chance. The textures here are really interesting – that mottled surface, almost like it's been weathered by time. There's a lot of layering, where the colors bleed into each other. Take a look at the floating figure in the upper-left; the way the colors mix there creates a sense of depth. The gestures are both playful and unsettling, like a dark fairytale. Ponç reminds me a little of Paul Klee, someone else who wasn't afraid to embrace the strange and the surreal. And in the end, it's that very ambiguity, that refusal to give easy answers, that makes the piece so engaging.