Distraction 1928

Arthur Dove made this watercolour on paper, called ‘Distraction’ – I love that title! It's all washes of colour, from the mauve-y purple of the central form, which looks a bit like a flower, to the yellow curve, and then the deep horizontal slash of dark brown at the bottom. Imagine Dove, working quickly, spontaneously, letting the watercolours bleed and blend. Maybe he was trying to capture a fleeting moment, a feeling or an impression rather than a literal representation. The horizontal lines in the purple form – they remind me of Agnes Martin’s grids. And the whole piece has this beautiful, ethereal quality, like a dream or a memory. There’s an ongoing conversation happening between artists, across time and space. They are riffing off each other's ideas, and inspiring each other's creativity. Dove’s work shows how painting is an embodied expression that embraces ambiguity and uncertainty, and allows for multiple interpretations.