Green Disc 72061 1972

Adolph Gottlieb made this untitled painting, Green Disc 72061, using paint. There’s something about the ochre ground here, how it’s been so carefully and evenly applied that makes you feel like you could fall right into the picture. And then, floating near the top, we have this dark green circle. It’s a really interesting shade of green, almost black, like a shadow, and it seems to both hover and recede. Down in the corner, these little squares of colour act almost like a key, or a guide, or maybe even a code. Each brushstroke is considered. When I look at a painting, I want to see what the artist was thinking, how the artist thought. It’s like a conversation. This piece reminds me of Agnes Martin in the way it balances colour, form, and surface. It invites us to get lost and yet also find ourselves within the artwork.