Splatter, Scribble and Swirl
Marks thrown, dripped, scribbled and spun. The twenty-seven works in this room are the Abstract series at its loosest: splashes on a bare ground, crowds of short strokes, swirls that turn in a circle, lines that sweep across the square and leave. The room ends on the collection piece, #0000.
Three kinds of gesture hang here. The splash, which hits the ground and spreads. The scribble, which covers it. And the swirl, which turns the whole square into one motion, like a ball of yarn or a storm seen from above.
Look for the one face. Number thirty-eight is a skull drawn in loose loops over soft color, and it is the only face in the Abstract series. It hangs among the swirls because the loops are the same.
Splashes on a Field
Numbers five to twenty. Dots and splashes on dark or grey grounds, with lines scratched through them.
Abstract #05
Dots of yellow, pink and cyan scattered over a dark marbled field, with white brush strokes dragged across the middle and bursts of pale yellow like fireworks. The field itself is streaked in green, blue and red, and the dots sit on top of it in drifts. It is the first gesture work by number, and it already has all three kinds: the splash, the scribble in the field, and the sweep of the white strokes.
Abstract #08
Red hatching in bunches over grey and green, with cyan and yellow line looping across it, and white hatching at the left.
Abstract #17
Bright splashes of orange, blue, magenta and green on grey, with vertical dark streaks behind them and white bursts at the center.
Abstract #18
A teal ground with pink and yellow lines scribbled across it, maroon splashes at the corners, and a white patch at the lower left.
Abstract #19
A dark brown ground with a tangle of white line at the center, like a figure or a plant, and splashes of pink, yellow and red thrown around it. The white tangle is drawn in loops that climb from the bottom to the top. The splashes are soft and bright. It is the darkest ground in the room, and the one where the splash reads most like something thrown.
Abstract #20
Pink and cyan scratches over a soft blue and pink ground, with yellow strokes and black dashes, and a small figure at the lower right.
Crowds of Strokes
Numbers twenty-one to twenty-seven. The square fills with short strokes until it is a crowd.
Abstract #21
A dense crowd of short strokes in pink, teal, yellow and red, crossing in every direction, with rows of dots through them.
Abstract #22
Dark ground with colored bars crossing it: yellow and purple vertical, white and grey diagonal, and tangles of fine line between them.
Abstract #23
Sweeping yellow and black lines on mauve, a dark knot at the center, scribble along the bottom.
Abstract #24
A brown ground filled edge to edge with short bars of color: red, yellow, cyan, pink, green and white, laid in a loose grid so that they read as a crowd of small flags. Black bars run among them. It is the brightest surface in the series and the most even, with no center and no empty corner.
Abstract #27
A textured mass of mauve, green, orange and yellow, drawn in fine scribble, with a block of pink at the lower left and black marks at the center.
Swirls and a Skull
Numbers thirty-five to forty. Strokes that turn in a circle, and in the middle of them the one face in the series.
Abstract #35
A grey haze with white and yellow strokes laid over it, a chain of dots running down the center, and black marks at the corners.
Abstract #36
Dense colored scribble in pink, yellow, green and blue, with spirals drawn in it and black loops over everything.
Abstract #37
A swirl on blue: thick black and white strokes turn in a circle around a center of red and gold, with yellow and purple strokes caught in the turn. The black strokes are the longest marks in the series, curving from the top to the bottom edge. The whole picture moves in one direction, like water going down a drain.
Abstract #38
A skull drawn in loose black loops over soft patches of red, green, blue and pink on white: two red eyes, a long nose, a row of teeth along the bottom. Thin black lines frame it. It is the only face in the Abstract series, and it hangs here because the loops that draw it are the loops of the swirls around it.
Compare with #37, in this room
Abstract #40
A brown mass hangs over a fire of red and orange strokes on grey, like smoke rising from flame.
Grass, Drips and the Collection Piece
Numbers forty-one to fifty, then the work titled pos, and the collection piece to end the wing.
Abstract #41
A field of grass-like strokes in blue, grey, white and yellow-green, standing up from the lower edge and leaning to the right, on white. The strokes are thin and close, like reeds. Blue is strongest at the left, green at the bottom. It is the one work in the room drawn entirely in vertical strokes, and the one that most looks like a place.
Abstract #42
On maroon, two crossed bars of gold and black at the center like a kite, with splashes of pink, teal and yellow around them.
Abstract #43
On teal, splatter and drips in yellow, white, black and purple, with thin orange lines crossing the square.
Abstract #44
Round dark blots on ochre, six of them, each drawn in circling strokes of teal and black like a thumbprint.
Abstract #45
On white, dense black splatter with lines of red, cyan, yellow and green thrown across it.
Abstract #46
A swirl of yellow, black and grey-blue on grey, turning in a loose circle like a ball of yarn, with black dots caught in it. The strokes are short and curved, and they follow the turn. The grey ground shows all around. It is the lightest of the swirls, and the one with the clearest circle.
Abstract #47
Bright swirling strokes in magenta, yellow, cyan and black on grey, with a magenta loop at the center and white at the edges.
Abstract #48
A soft pink and lilac haze with a single thin dark line drawn through it in a wandering path, down the right and across the bottom.
Abstract #50
On yellow and white, a splash of black and color at the center dripping downward, with pink, green and purple caught in it.
Abstract #pos
A round mass of red, orange, teal and brown strokes on grey, drawn in circling layers like a burning ball, with drips running down from its lower edge. The strokes turn around a center and pile up until the mass is almost solid. The grey ground is scratched with grey lines. Its title is pos, the one Abstract work without a number.
Abstract #0000
The collection piece, an edition of one. Yellow-green and magenta patches on a pale ground, black splatter thrown over them, and a tangle of thin orange, cyan and black lines drawn through the lower half, with a block of black scribble at the bottom. Loops, splashes and lines together. Where the first splash in this room threw dots on a dark field, this one throws its marks over a pale page and draws through them.
Closing
Look again at the first splash, dots on a dark field, and then at the collection piece, where splatter, patches and lines are all on one page. The room's three gestures end up together. The swirls between them are the series turning in place.