The eye first meets this black cross that cuts the square into four slanted sections, like plates shifted relative to one another. Around it, John Beckley unfolds a wide range of blues, from the lightest to the densest, worked in splashes, traces and small marks that give the surface a vibrant relief. The fine white lines, very straight, cross the whole in several directions and create a taut, graphic mesh that contrasts with the freer texture of the background. This tension between geometric rigor and the energy of the splashes gives the painting a cold, luminous depth, concentrated in the dark center.
