Untitled 1970

Ray Parker made this painting with what looks like fluid acrylic on canvas. I can imagine him in his studio pushing color around, letting the shapes emerge almost like they were always there, just waiting to be found. There's this big lilac field, kind of matte, against which Parker sets these ribbon-like forms. I see a stroke of vibrant, almost electric, blue that swoops across the canvas, and a playful yellow dab, like a little sunburst. These shapes aren't quite anything, but they feel like they are on the verge of meaning something. There's a real generosity in the way Parker lays down the paint – thin, easy, and confident. I wonder what the push and pull was like for Parker, how much control he exerted, and how much he let the paint do its own thing. It makes me think about Matisse's cut-outs, and how artists keep talking to each other across time, picking up ideas, and remixing them. It is nice to think we are all in this big conversation.