Abstract Composition 1969

Curator: This artwork is titled "Abstract Composition" by Alice Baber, made in 1969, and it appears to be created using acrylic paint. Editor: It's visually so playful. The floating orbs of color layered across the stark white create a real sense of lightness and movement. Almost like looking at refracted light through bubbles. Curator: Exactly. Baber was known for her lyrical abstractions. Notice how she uses these circular forms – almost lens-like – to explore luminosity and the interaction of colors. It feels almost primal, these basic shapes recurring throughout history to denote wholeness and the cosmos. Editor: I’m immediately drawn to how the colors interact, that intentionality behind placing complimentary shades side by side and building visual tension. The red next to the blues and greens...it's not chaotic, but it’s incredibly vibrant. The varying transparencies are very well executed too. The eye travels constantly, trying to settle on a focal point but never quite finding one. Curator: It reminds me a bit of stained glass. There is a feeling of transcendental light. I think she evokes the symbolic weight of mandalas in sacred geometry, creating her own universe within the canvas. Her choice of colors amplifies the feeling of spiritual harmony as well. Editor: You see that harmony, but for me, there's an interesting dissonance as well. While the colors are beautiful, they are almost too much against the white canvas. A tension is being established between balance and disarray in these shapes, too, especially if one applies any Gestalt principles to the piece. Curator: That tension might be exactly the point! By destabilizing the viewer, perhaps Baber intended to draw us deeper into contemplation, to seek our own center amidst this playful disarray, to engage the work with one's whole history. Editor: A wonderfully complex and engaging piece, one that provides a different visual reading with each viewing, especially from formal perspectives of structure and composition. Curator: Agreed, a potent reminder of how color and form can tap into deeper cultural wells.