Afro Puff 1996

Ellen Gallagher made this evocative artwork, Afro Puff, with ink and graphite. It has a delicate palette of pale yellows and greys, as if the image is emerging slowly from the paper. You can see the artist's hand here in these marks, which look like horizontal lines of text, a method to produce multiple, repetitive marks. I think of Agnes Martin when I look at this piece. It's as though Gallagher is in conversation with Martin, offering a different kind of minimalist expression. Both artists use grids, but to different ends. I can imagine Gallagher’s thoughts as she made it. She created these masses that resemble afro puffs by using line after line, which is an act of care. The repetition of the horizontal lines gives a subtle texture. She used a range of tones, which creates a sense of depth, and these elements all point to how paintings can be sites of care and contemplation.