Untitled 1952

James Brooks made this untitled painting with what looks like acrylic on cardboard, and the dominant gestures are splattery and drippy, in white, black, brown and blue. I can almost imagine Brooks flinging the paint, making quick decisions, responding to the previous mark, the painting building up, shifting, coming into being. The cardboard peeks through, unifying the composition with its warm tone. It's like he's having a conversation with the painting, a back and forth, a give and take, letting the material lead the way. The blue punctuates the composition like an aria, and I'm wondering what it might have been like to create these forms. Was it frustration, exhilaration, or pure experimentation? I feel this in my body, like how the quick flick of the wrist can communicate feeling, intention, or a fleeting thought. Brooks is in dialogue with painters like Gorky and Guston who explored similar territory, each influencing the other. Artists are in ongoing conversation; painting is an embodied expression that embraces ambiguity, allowing for multiple interpretations.