Untitled 1967

Editor: We're looking at Yvonne Thomas's "Untitled" from 1967, an acrylic on canvas. The composition strikes me as quite bold, with those large blocks of colour. It has a striking, almost graphic quality to it. What are your thoughts? Curator: Indeed. If we examine the interplay of the colours—the vibrant red abutting the cooler blues, and then the grounding yellow—we witness a formal investigation of chromatic relationships. Observe how the artist manipulates line through these colour boundaries, creating undulating forms that push and pull the eye. What do you make of that surface? Editor: I notice how the paint seems quite flat, almost matte. It’s very different from the textured surfaces of some Abstract Expressionist works. It makes the colors even more intense, somehow. Curator: Precisely. The artist consciously eschews gestural brushwork, privileging instead the purity and flatness of colour. This can be interpreted as a reaction against the more subjective, emotionally driven painting of previous decades. Note the shapes. Editor: They feel very deliberate but not geometric. Organic perhaps? Curator: Consider them as shapes, rather than forms. The organisation and visual relationships are what we must value. It makes the painting balanced. Would you agree? Editor: Yes, definitely. Seeing it this way helps me appreciate how each element is there to serve a very specific, formal purpose within the overall composition. Curator: Exactly. This artwork shows how careful control of fundamental components such as line and color leads viewers to new methods for feeling and understanding visual culture.