Shadows Possibly 1926

Man Ray created Shadows with colour print on paper. It’s really something how different colors seem to float on top of each other. They collide to create new shapes; it makes me think about layering and overlapping in my own work. I’m imagining Man Ray in his studio, carefully layering one colour, one shape, on top of the other. There’s a playfulness to it, an experimentation. The blue form especially, almost like a blob of ink dropped just so, creating an accidental shape that then dictates the next move. It's like they're talking to each other. It's not paint exactly, but there's still a thickness to the color. It’s almost like the colors are characters moving on a stage. You see echoes of Matisse in the boldness of the colour and the shapes, but Man Ray brings his own sensibility to it, creating something both familiar and entirely new. Artists, we're all in conversation, borrowing, stealing, and transforming. Painting becomes a form of embodied expression, always open to possibility.