Week #49, Magic Markers II

Untitled (Blue and Red Geometric Abstract)), 1983, felt tip pen on paper, 5” x 8”

Herewith our second example in this series of works on paper featuring felt tip pens as the medium. It is another piece where Dusti Bongé uses a very limited color palette dominated by red and blue. She also takes full advantage of the distinct linear pattern markers can create when applied with consistent, repetitive strokes of the pen.

This work is completely geometric, with rectilinear, hard-edged shapes in bright red floating against a dark blue ground. The blue is applied with measured vertical heavy strokes of the felt tip pen. The red rectangles are all oriented either horizontally or vertically but are themselves more freely and unevenly colored.

The two largest, mostly rectangular shapes that dominate the composition are placed in a balanced, spatial relationship to each other. This balance is achieved given that each large rectangle is tethered-by a narrow band created by a single heavy stroke of the marker-to a much smaller form at the other end. This basically creates two T-shaped figures, which interlock with each other.  Off to the side of this main conjunction are three smaller red figures stacked on top of one another. They are a deeper red and as such attract less visual attention. However, they successfully offset the symmetry of the whole.

Each of the shapes casts a very well defined, almost black shadow onto the blue background, thereby giving the whole a sense of depth and structure there would not be otherwise. But, upon closer inspection you notice some of those shadows are actually dark green. That’s because Dusti cleverly introduces just a hint of yellow into this mostly blue and red composition. This yellow creates a few bright highlights against the red, while creating deep pools of green against the blue.