Untitled 1974

Behjat Sadr made this untitled artwork with dark, wavy lines and contrasting white spaces. I can almost imagine the artwork emerging through trial and error, shifting with the artist's intuition. I sympathize with Sadr, thinking about the kind of physical and mental state she might have been in when she made it. The paint looks like it's been layered, maybe even scraped, across the surface. Those lines! They're not just lines, they're pathways, like furrows in a field or maybe even sound waves. Each mark feels deliberate, a way of communicating something beyond just what you see. Sadr’s work reminds me a bit of other painters, always in conversation with each other. Artists are constantly exchanging ideas across time. Her paintings show an embodied expression, embracing ambiguity and uncertainty, allowing for multiple interpretations.