Page 39 - Studio International - November 1967

of the approach. Far from being narrow and confining, it dilution? I have always regarded myself as the purest of the
has an astonishing potential for breadth and complexity colour painters; my concern is simply with colour interval.
of expression.
The particular colours you use within the format of equal
Rather too much emphasis has been placed on the fact width stripes account for rhythmic changes and expres-
that the format of your paintings is, literally, stripes. To sive intensities. How are the choices made in practice?
my mind, the virtue of the approach is that stripes offer a What leads you to one set of colour combinations as
flexible and largely neutral support to the interdependent opposed to another?
action of colour. But you may see qualities in the stripe Sometimes I will start with a preconceived notion of
that have nothing to do with its usefulness as a non- painting an essentially blue painting. From the begin-
emblematic vehicle for colour. Will you comment? ning, I will paint my blue virtually at random all across
Well, there's this—stripes feel right to me for reasons that the surface. Then, as the painting progresses from day to
I can't quite explain. For instance, they have a rectitude, day, more often than not I will find that the painting has
an uncompromising quality, and even a monotony that taken over; I will go where the painting takes me, and
appeals to me. While this may sound self-serving, I've what was initially intended to be a blue painting becomes
reached the point where I regard most other painters' a red painting—one that gives off the feeling and appear-
solutions to the problems of how to put colours together ance of redness.
as a compromise. In other words, I can't see why, given
the stripe format, anyone would want to put colours to- Each choice modifies the whole? Every time you paint
gether in any other way. You might characterize this as another stripe, the whole painting changes ?
the attitude of a fanatic, but aren't other space divisions a Yes, I paint to surprise myself.

Gene Davis
Flamingo 1965
acrylic on unsized canvas
54 x 96 in.
Fischbach Gallery, New York