Different Quarters #12 1959

Frederick Hammersley made this painting, Different Quarters #12, with oil on board. I love the boldness of the shapes, how they push up against each other like a city skyline, all sharp angles and unexpected colour combinations. There's a real materiality to the painting. Up close, you can see the texture of the paint, thick in some areas, almost sanded back in others. The browns feel dense and earthy, contrasting the flat planes of red and yellow. And that little strip of orange, right there, smack dab in the middle—it zings! The subtle impasto gives the painting a real physical presence, like you could reach out and touch it. That white triangle in the lower left is almost like a blade of light, slicing through the dark shapes. Hammersley, like Mondrian, had a knack for making geometry feel human, not sterile. You can see a similar playfulness in the work of someone like Josef Albers, but Hammersley has a distinct looseness, a kind of improvisational energy that makes his work so compelling. It's a reminder that even the most abstract forms can hold a world of feeling, and it's a testament to art's power to resist easy answers.