Dido 1973

Norman Bluhm has made this painting, Dido, with fluid, gestural brushstrokes in a palette of oranges, pinks, yellows, blacks, and blues, on what looks like a square canvas. I can imagine Bluhm building up layers, responding to the push and pull of the paint. He’s playing with these biomorphic forms. Those thick black shapes look like they are holding their breath, and those strokes of purple and orange feel like they are in conversation. Are they floating or colliding? The painting feels really alive with energy and reminds me of other abstract expressionists who were trying to capture something fleeting, like a feeling or a memory. The surface texture shows the history of his marks. A gesture of color becomes a sign of something—an openness to change. Painters like Bluhm make art because they have something to say through color and form, and it’s up to us to keep the conversation going. It's a kind of dance across time.