Blue Spot 1966

Bernard Cohen made this painting called ‘Blue Spot’ and it’s a lesson in seeing how much a little can say. The blue is barely there, more like a suggestion, almost like a stain that's trying to disappear into the vast off-white ground. It's pretty thin paint, very transparent, like he wanted the surface to breathe, to almost not be there at all. Look closely and you can see the way the blue bleeds a little; you can almost feel how wet that paint was when it was applied. It’s less about the object and more about the sensation of the mark. It reminds me of some of Agnes Martin’s work, that same quietness and focus, and how she made a whole world out of thin washes of paint, or maybe even a Cy Twombly if he was feeling extra zen. In the end, it's a painting that embraces ambiguity, letting the viewer bring their own story to this simple, beautiful blue moment.