Signal 1973

Gene Davis made this painting, Signal, with stripes of color, and it feels like he’s right in the middle of figuring something out. It's not about hiding the process, but laying it bare. The thing about stripes is that they're so matter-of-fact, but here, each one is just a little different in width, in color, in how it sits next to its neighbor. And the surface, you can tell it's been worked, it's got this kind of material presence. Look at that bold yellow stripe smack in the middle – it's like a jolt, a key change in a song. Davis reminds me a bit of Bridget Riley, but where she's all about the optical buzz, he's got this chill, almost jazzy vibe. It's like he's saying, "Hey, let's just see what happens if we put these colors together." And that's the magic, right? It's never really finished, it's always in the middle of becoming.