This work typifies Diebenkorn's Abstract Expressionist period in Albuquerque, the influence of New Mexico's desert landscape clearly evident in the sunburnt red and gold colors that the artist summons forth. This painting also exhibits the gestural markings and quasi-symbols that had defined the Abstract Expressionists' interest in a subconscious reality, seen most clearly in the work of Jackson Pollock and Clyfford Still. Although the artist was inspired by the forms and colors he saw in the surrounding desert, the resulting work is an abstraction - a beautifully composed and balanced series of flat shapes executed with subtle and sophisticated layers of color. However, and significantly, this canvas also suggests Diebenkorn's eventual departure from the New York School towards figuration; not only does his palette refer to a specific location (the surrounding desert), but also the large shape areas can be traced back to representational aerial views of the Southwest landscape.

By Theartstory