Pousette-Dart’s handling of a densely loaded surface is particularly striking in some of the later paintings, where the creation of a violently tactile surface is married to concerns with gesture and light. In Illumination Square (1982-83), a rectangle of brilliant dots and splashes frames a series of calligraphic lines. These white ribbons of paint, seemingly squeezed directly from the tube, float above a heavily impastoed surface, which is encrusted with pits and knots of vibrant colors, especially blue, yellow and red.

The calligraphy possesses a spiritual calm, posing a dramatic tension with the feverish color and movement evoked by the thick impasto. Light bounces across this canvas, shadowed in craters of paint and glowing on heavily brushed globules of color.

Of even greater complexity and mystery is Blue Path in Space (1982). Suspended in the upper half of the canvas is a curving swath of blue, barely flecked with pink and yellow. It cuts across three totemic columns in which harsh flat shapes, encrusted with brilliant paint, vaguely recall primitive masks and symbols. Again, a simple curving line contrasts with feverish light and movement, delicately balancing serenity and chaos.

When his works were shown at Peggy Guggenheim’s Art of This Century gallery in 1947, the artist commented, “I strive to express the spiritual nature of the universe. Painting for me is a dynamic balance and wholeness of life, it is mysterious and transcending yet solid and real.” Nearly 40 years later, Pousette-Dart still achieves a compelling union of such opposites.


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