Crescendo 1963

Ernst Wilhelm Nay made this painting, *Crescendo*, with oil paint, but the date isn't known. The dynamic rhythm of Nay's mark-making is striking, like a series of energetic gestures frozen in time. Look at the layers of translucent dark blues built up to create depth, and then disrupted by the stark whites scumbled on top, and how these are punctuated by earth-toned circles. The materiality of the paint is evident: thick in some areas, thin and washy in others. My eye is drawn to the large circle near the centre, its looping form both grounding the composition and suggesting endless movement. This recalls the gestural abstraction of painters like de Kooning, but Nay has his own flavour. It's about embracing process, and finding joy in the messy, unpredictable nature of paint, a conversation that continues to echo through contemporary art.