Vert, Brun, Bleu, et Ochre 1974

Yves Gaucher made this painting, Vert, Brun, Bleu, et Ochre, with colours, as the title indicates. The way he’s built up these planes of colour, it’s like he’s thinking about how colours behave, what they do to each other when they meet. It's all about the surface here. The paint isn’t trying to trick you into seeing something else. It’s very upfront about being paint, being colour. You can almost feel the texture, even though it’s subtle. It’s not about hiding the process, it's about revealing it. Look at the blue stripe, how it sits between the brown and the green. It's not just blue; it's a particular blue, made richer by what's around it. This idea of colour affecting colour reminds me a little of Josef Albers and his work with colour relationships. It feels like a quiet conversation happening on the canvas. And ultimately, that’s what art is, an ongoing dialogue.