Saint Augustine 1968

Ronnie Landfield made this painting, titled Saint Augustine, and what strikes me is its commitment to process. The red ground feels like a starting point, a stage set for playful, yet careful, interactions. Look at how Landfield deploys colour. It's not about representation, but about the pure joy of juxtaposition. The stack of colours at the bottom – pink, white, lavender, and yellow – sits so nicely, a counterpoint to the more chaotic energy surrounding it. The texture is amazing, thick in some places, thin in others, revealing the layers of its own making. It feels honest. See the hatching marks around the border and floating into the ground? They create this buzzy energy. You sense Landfield is in conversation with painters like Agnes Martin, but pushing further into his own territory. It’s the ongoing dialogue of art that makes it so alive, so open to infinite possibility.