"Cool" Series (Blue over Red) 1963

Perle Fine made "Cool" Series (Blue over Red) with layers of simple colours, building up the image slowly. I can imagine her, standing there, brush in hand, thinking, "how do I make this work, how do I create something that breathes and feels alive?" The paint isn't too thick, but just enough that you can feel her hand moving across the surface. Look at that blue line, slightly fuzzy, like a soft boundary between two worlds. It feels kind of tentative, as if she wasn't quite sure where to put it, and I totally relate to that feeling. I wonder if she was looking at Rothko or maybe even thinking about the colour theories of Josef Albers. We all stand on the shoulders of giants, right? Ultimately, painting is a conversation between artists, across time and space, each of us trying to make sense of the world in our own messy, imperfect way.