Easter Lily 1956

Jay DeFeo made this thing called Easter Lily, and it's pretty much all monochrome, but I'm looking at it and thinking about all the different ways you can use paint to explore just one or two colours. It’s like, how many shades of grey can you find in your own mind? I love the texture in this, the way the paint is built up in layers, sometimes thin and washy, sometimes thick and chunky. Check out how the brushstrokes radiate out from the centre, that black void in the middle. It's like she’s creating this weird kind of space that sucks you right in, you know? Each mark seems to be searching for an answer. DeFeo reminds me a little of Philip Guston, someone else who wasn't afraid to get messy and let the process guide the way. Like with Guston, this isn’t about perfect representation, it’s about something deeper, something more ambiguous. The mystery is the point.