Blue Tide 1981

Friedel Dzubas made this painting, Blue Tide, without specifying when, and it shows how abstraction can still evoke a landscape. The way he’s laid down these blues and browns—it’s not about a literal depiction of a place, but more about the feeling of it. The process seems almost like a dance, a back-and-forth between intention and accident. I’m drawn to that lower section, where the brown and tan meet. It's not trying to trick you into thinking it's sand or earth, but there's this honesty about the paint itself. It’s flat, almost chalky, and the way the colors bleed into each other suggests a kind of effortless blending. This area acts as an anchor, grounding the more ethereal blues above. Dzubas's work reminds me a bit of Helen Frankenthaler, in the sense that both artists were so involved in exploring the pure sensation of colour, and the physicality of paint on canvas. Ultimately, it’s this ambiguity that keeps me coming back. It’s a reminder that art isn’t about answers, but about keeping the conversation going.