Untitled 1968

This untitled painting was made by Dan Christensen, using spray paint. What strikes me first is the directness of the gesture, a real sense of play in the application of these colourful lines. There’s an immediacy to the painting, as if Christensen allowed the paint to speak for itself. The colors are vibrant, almost electric against the white background. You can see the texture of the spray, how the paint kind of floats onto the surface, leaving this soft, hazy edge to each line. Looking closely, there’s one spot near the bottom, a deep indigo line that seems to curve back on itself with a little flourish - it reminds me of someone doodling in the margins of a notebook, lost in thought. This piece feels related to the work of someone like Jules Olitski, who also explored the possibilities of color and surface in abstract painting. It’s a reminder that art is always in conversation, one painter responding to another across time and space.