#18 1953

Hans Hartung made this, #18, and I’m immediately thinking about how it might have come into being, shifting and emerging, line by line, through mark-making, trial and error, and intuition. I really sympathize with this artist! I know what it’s like when you have to make an artwork, the decisions of where to start, where to put each line, the process of the surface coming into being, the way the lines feel like they’re coming together. Look how the paint is thinly applied, these dark, energetic lines are so physical, raw, and direct. They have a real emotional resonance, don't they? That particular gesture with the scratchy black lines, like scribbles in the night, communicates a feeling of restless energy, an intention to disrupt. It makes me think about the wider practices of abstract painters like Joan Mitchell, who are in an ongoing conversation and exchange of ideas across time, inspiring one another's creativity. With painting, it’s an embodied expression which embraces ambiguity and uncertainty, allowing for multiple interpretations.