Untitled 2002

This untitled painting was made by Doreen Reid Nakamarra, we don’t know when, and most likely with acrylic on canvas. It’s all about lines, right? Up and down, side to side, brown on tan, tan on brown. Nakamarra builds up this subtle, vibrating surface through repetition, like weaving or knitting. It’s almost hypnotic. Look at the way the lower section is built up from vertical strokes. See how those lines bunch together, separate, and then compress again. It’s like a physical thing, a mass. Then compare that to the horizontal band across the middle, which seems to float above, lighter, less dense, and yet also somehow more structured. She sets up these tensions, these shifts in perception. This way of working reminds me of Agnes Martin, who also used grids and lines to create paintings that are both very simple and very complex. Both artists show us that art is about so much more than just what you see; it’s about feeling, thinking, and experiencing the world in new ways.