Z--Z--Z 1998

Robert Goodnough made this painting, “Z--Z--Z,” with paint on canvas, and it looks to me like an explosion of confetti against a night sky. Imagine Goodnough in his studio, surrounded by the scent of oil paint, armed with a brush, maybe lost in thought, maybe not, applying these tessellated shapes to the dark, textured canvas. Each little triangle is so intentional! You can tell there's a real dance between control and chance here. The paint is thin, so you can see right into these colorful shards. It must have been a slow, additive process. You can almost see him, carefully placing each one just so. Was he thinking about the wider history of abstract painting? Of Synthetic Cubism? Or was he simply playing, arranging shapes and colors until something clicked? “Z--Z--Z,” gets its title from the sound of buzzing, or perhaps the act of sawing, which brings to mind sharp edges and repetitive motion. As painters we are all in conversation with one another. Painting is a dialogue with the past, embracing a constant give and take, and it is through this exchange that art evolves.