Untitled 1961

John Ferren made this untitled painting with oil on canvas, and it’s a real testament to the joy of process. The colours are mixed right there on the canvas, creating this vibrant, almost chaotic square in the centre. I love the way the materiality of the paint is so present. You can see the individual brushstrokes, how Ferren loaded up the brush and laid down each mark. It's thick, juicy, and unapologetic. That horizontal green line at the bottom? It’s like a grounding force, a moment of calm amidst the storm of colour above. For me, it makes the rest of the painting sing. Ferren was part of the abstract expressionist movement, like Rothko and Gorky. And you can see those influences in his work, but he has his own playful sensibility, his own way of embracing the beauty of uncertainty. It’s a reminder that art is a conversation, an ongoing experiment, and that meaning is always in motion.