THE WORK

I chose Reinhardt's piece 'Untitled (Red and Grey)' (1950) (shown above) because it combines elements from his geometric beginnings and mid-career love of bright pigments. I was personally drawn to the interesting medley of colors that ‘Untitled’ tends to exhibit. The harsh orange is striking – almost intimidating. It is reminiscent of tears in fabric, and thus further enhances the notion of discordancy that the work generally achieves. The grey in the background isn’t uniform either, and with the superimposition of orange on top, builds tension that draws the eye towards the larger gaps of grey – almost goading the viewer to find order within chaos. Most impressively, the blocky orange shapes aggravate the aggression of the overall composition as opposed to alleviating it – which is what one would typically expect with predictable cuboid shapes. The final thing that caught my attention was ironically the first thing I noticed about the piece, its name – ‘Untitled’. The artist is essentially inviting (or challenging, depending on your perspective) the viewer to make sense of his work from the limited information provided.