Jules Olitski

American Colour Field painter Jules Olitski was well known for his abstract canvases of sensuous colour, layered by spraying and staining the canvas which created subtle modulations of hue and texture. Perfecting his spray-painting technique in the 1960s, Olitski in the 1970s combined this with new methods: colours were spread, scraped and rolled creating thickly structured surfaces. Using a roller or squeegee to scrape gel-thickened paint across the surface, variations in opacity and transparency resulted. The human hand became more evident and he was able to nuance the textural effects left by the tools and paints he used. With the combination of squeegee and spray, the thicker, layered pigment appears more as a skin on the surface of the canvas, with touches of colour peeking out from the edges.