Transection I 1971

Clarence Holbrook Carter created ‘Transection I’ with a limited colour palette of orange, blue, and lavender – maybe with screen printing? I can just imagine Carter in his studio, playing with shapes and colors, letting his intuition guide him. I can picture him experimenting with different shapes and sizes, probably moving them around until they felt just right. I am really curious about the orange concentric circles, though. There is such an optical buzz in this flat space. The lavender shapes feel like buoys or strange eggs bobbing in the water, or maybe they are more abstract, like thoughts floating in the mind. Carter’s process reminds me of other painters who embrace ambiguity and uncertainty, like Hilma af Klint or Agnes Martin, where the painting becomes a record of the artist's inner journey. Artists like these are in an ongoing conversation across time, inspiring each other’s creativity. With ‘Transection I’, Carter invites us to embark on a journey of our own, to explore the endless possibilities of color, shape, and space.