Quiet like a low tide, the paintings of Agnes Martin are simple, yet full of feeling. The Canadian-born artist spent her career pushing minimalism. In fact, before working in these subtle palettes, Martin spent years painting only in black, white, and shades of brown, or creating oversized work consisting entirely of simple grids drawn in light pencil lines. After relocating to New Mexico, she introduced these painterly, washy colors which are so mesmerizing. The wobble of a drawn pencil line, the bleed of indigo watercolor, the texture of canvas. All of these elements come together to form peaceful, quiet moments.
I first witnessed Agnes’ work at Dia:Beacon and was immediately enamored with her use of pale tones of color, textural line work and emotional simplicity. There is a strength in each of Agnes’ pantings—a tension between the stripes. You could get lost studying them for hours …
{ Images via Pace Gallery via Rebecca Atwood. }