Harold Cohen
70 1/4 x 70 1/2 in
Further images
Visually similar to Shimmer in its utilization of the patterned circular web, in Untitled (7066-2-00011 / 3R), 1968, Cohen makes use of a process of splattering rather than spraying, as with the other painting. Initially a mix of dark greens and blue are splattered onto the bare canvas ground. The dynamism and irregularity of the splattered patterns situating the work in the lineage of mid-century Action Painting, popularised a decade preceding this work. Atop of the characteristically Abstract Expressionist ground however, Cohen here layers two interconnected square nets of circular dots in two-tone. The resultant effect is similar to what Cohen’s Op Art contemporaries were achieving elsewhere - a visually distorting and disorientating viewing experience. Unlike the Op Artists however this work appears to do two things at once and the effect of viewing the painting shifts largely depending on which point of it we fix our gaze. This effect is achieved by the border, which steadies us. If we focus on the border, or at the intersection of the dotted pattern and the border, we ground the work as a two dimension abstract painting.
