Horizontals Flanking (Small, Thalo-Green Line) 1968

Jo Baer made these two paintings called “Horizontals Flanking (Small, Thalo-Green Line),” with careful thought and a precise hand. Look at the off-white rectangles, floating inside the darker frames, and the thin line of Thalo green that sits in between, it is so quiet but so precise. I imagine Baer was trying to find a new way to approach painting. She's dealing with the surface and the edge, the figure and the ground, and the relationship between the two canvases, and the space between them. How the one informs the other! She had to consider, how could she create something new? The paint is applied thinly, smoothly, almost like a skin. It's not about texture; it's about color and form. That small green line is so important, that it gives it an optical buzz. It's kind of like a whisper, but it's there, doing its work. This might remind you of Agnes Martin's grids, or even some of the early minimalists. We see them all working through the language of painting. Painting is about searching and experimenting, where we can embrace uncertainty. Nothing is set in stone, and there's always room for dialogue and discovery.