The Plague 1963

John Hultberg made this piece, "The Plague," with a sombre palette of browns. I can only imagine him layering washes of color, scraping back into the surface, and drawing with charcoal or a similar dry medium to create the chaotic composition before us. It’s as if he’s building and then dismantling this world all at once. I bet he was really in the zone when he made this, working intuitively, letting the marks lead the way, then digging in even deeper. The linear elements scattered throughout the composition create a sense of depth, while the contrast between light and dark adds drama. The surface texture suggests a landscape in ruin, with the vertical lines above acting as dark stormy clouds, or perhaps some kind of ominous force hanging overhead. Hultberg often explored themes of urban decay and social unrest in his paintings, like a number of abstract expressionist painters at the time. It reminds me of some of Guston’s later representational work, or maybe even some of Kiefer’s landscapes. This piece is clearly part of an ongoing conversation among artists, reflecting shared concerns and inspiring new forms of expression.