Untitled 1963

This 'Untitled' work is by John McLaughlin. Look at how the light bounces off those yellow blocks, set against the off-white. I wonder about the artist and his way of working. Was he a fast painter? Did he make many preparatory sketches? I imagine him carefully considering each stroke, the composition slowly revealing itself. The edges are so clean and sharp! I love the precision and simplicity. It's the kind of painting that seems simple, but those yellows–they buzz like Agnes Martin. There’s a quiet energy here. What I really enjoy about it is how the colours play off each other. The yellow appears to vibrate, like a chord in music. It makes me think about Frank Stella and Ad Reinhardt, how these painters were stripping painting back to its essence. They are all in conversation with each other, you know? Paintings speaking to paintings, across time.