Blue-Green-Black-Red 1971

Ellsworth Kelly made this, stacking bands of blue, green, black, and red. I can imagine Kelly approaching this work, thinking hard about edges, about how colors meet. It's so much about the here and now. You know, the physicality of the paint itself. The colors are flat but they vibrate against each other. Take the black, that anchors the middle, right? It makes the green pop, the red feel grounded. Kelly’s choice of pure hues isn't arbitrary. It's part of a dialogue with artists like Mondrian, maybe even Albers, who were all thinking about how color affects our perception. Each color has its weight, its own voice. It’s a conversation that keeps evolving, each artist adding their own take. I think these paintings teach us so much about seeing. They remind us that painting is a way of thinking.