Untitled

"Diebenkorn says of the Ocean Park series that 'The abstract paintings permit an all-over light which wasn't possible for me in the representational works, which seem somehow dingy by comparison.' At the same time, the larger color areas which have been developing for some years permit an invigorated and intensified color which is expansive and conditioned by his all-over light. Conflicts still abound in the artist's working methods and goals. Diebenkorn likes to work thinly with his paints but he also wants density of layered pigments. Scraping and over-painting result in compromises. He claims that he would like the work to unfold in order and be all laid out as in a diagram, but at the same time, he is severely tempted to push the painting into chaos in order to see what will happen. He searches for a unity that is fresh, and surprising to himself, but that relies upon the nature of perception as well as the experience of art" (G. Nordland, Richard Diebenkorn, The Ocean Park Series: Recent Work, New York, 1971, p. 11).