Doris Staffel, Untitled

This painting was first exhibited in September 1979 in Staffel's third solo exhibition at the Gross McCleaf Gallery. The exhibition consisted of oil paintings and gouaches (on paper) composed solely of individual overlapping brushstrokes such as this. In Untitled, vibrant, energetic strokes of red, white, blue, and green colors pulse against one another, creating a bravura sea of colorful confetti, dense and rhythmic. The space in both works is shallow and compressed while offering a feeling of great movement and exuberance.

As her former student Betsey Batchelor recalls in her essay published in the exhibition catalogue, "Doris framed painting in the largest possible terms. Her teaching seemed always to point to questions more than answers. Painting was never about making pictures, but about having an experience."