Palladio 1961

Franz Kline made "Palladio" with paint, pushing around black and white, figuring it out as he goes. The image is made up of confident, broad strokes, and you can almost see the speed and energy of the brush as it hits the canvas. The blacks are thick, opaque, assertive. They remind me of calligraphy, or maybe the girders of a building under construction. I'm drawn to the way Kline lets the white peek through, creating this dynamic push and pull. Notice in the center, how the black square is slightly off-kilter, imperfect. That little wobble gives the whole piece its tension and makes it feel alive. Kline’s work shares a certain rawness with de Kooning, but there's also something uniquely his. His work invites you to embrace the beauty of the unfinished, the power of simplicity, and the endless possibilities of paint.