Couleur au fond cosmique 1994

Eugene Brands made this painting called "Couleur au fond cosmique," or "Color on a Cosmic Ground," and I imagine him leaning over the surface, really feeling the weight of the brush in his hand. The colors in the center are pure and alive, streaks of yellow, orange, and red, like the sun just before it sets, a molten core, framed by a dark, encompassing border. The painting's surface isn't uniform; you can see the push and pull of the brush, the little skips and starts. There's a rawness to it, an immediacy that makes you feel like you're right there with Brands, watching him work. I wonder if he was thinking about the cosmos and the origins of color, or if he was simply trying to capture a fleeting moment of beauty. Either way, it reminds me of other painters who were after something raw and real, like the early expressionists who were trying to tap into something primal. Artists are always in conversation with each other, whether they know it or not, trying to figure out what it means to be human and to express that in paint.