Deep Blue

1963 is a particularly interesting year in the development of Mrkusich’s art. It witnesses the transition from loose works influenced by American abstract expressionism, of which Deep Blue is a large-scale example, to works from the Emblems series that followed, such as The Contained Waters and Earth Radiance. Like many artists, Mrkusich does not move sharply from one style or period to the next. There is often a stage at which one can observe a new way of working emerging out of the old. In the case of this work, despite the gestural application of paint, an ‘emblematic’ geometric structure is already discernible in the background. One might say that this work is an Emblem struggling to be born.