Untitled IV 1979

Dan Christensen made this untitled painting using acrylic, I think, and maybe some pastel too. It's a super dreamy piece, with these soft, overlapping shapes in a palette of muted pinks, blues, and oranges. I imagine Christensen standing in his studio, maybe listening to some cool jazz, just layering these washes of color, letting each layer peek through the next. There's a big, hazy rectangle in the middle, like a window into another world, framed by these delicate lines that almost look like they're floating. And then there's this little blob of scribbled red – a burst of energy amidst all the calm. It reminds me a bit of Helen Frankenthaler's soak-stain paintings, where she poured thinned paint onto unprimed canvas, letting it seep into the fabric. I think there's a shared interest in exploring the materiality of paint and the way color can create space and atmosphere. It's all about feeling your way through the painting.