Detail

This large painting by the American painter Leon Polk Smith consists of only two color fields with complementary colors—a large surface in iridescent warm orange that covers most of the canvas, and a broad bow in a deep shining blue. The paint is applied uniformly, and there is no trace of brush strokes that might constitute the artist’s style or signature. The blue shape is cut off by the edge of the painting, and seems to be rocking to the right in a dynamic movement on this resplendent monochrome surface. Leon Polk Smith’s paintings ask how form and color mutually influence each other. The interplay of the two surfaces invites us to consider depth and ask if either the orange or the blue is in the front, or if the bright orange makes the blue strip seem smaller. Looking a bit longer, a pulsating dynamism sets in, as the blue begins to seem to swing. In particular, we note the very clear lines that delineate the two surfaces and their strong formal effects. Color and form each seem to gain their own independence, but without representing anything in the traditional sense. In 1963, the New York Stable Gallery first showed Smith’s "Correspondences", as he called his works. This title refers to the relationships between two color fields, which is the basis of all the works of the series, with different combination of colors. These works made Smith one of the most important protagonists of hard edge painting in America.