Untitled (SFM 80-016), 1980

"Untitled (SFM 80-016), 1980" is a monotype with oil, dry pigment, and ink on handmade rag paper, created by Sam Francis in 1980. The artwork is signed twice and titled on verso. The artwork ships framed in a contemporary white frame and has a framed size of 35 x 29.75".

Created in 1980, “Untitled (SFM 80-016)” reveals Sam Francis at a moment of bold symbolic clarity and technical innovation. At the center of the composition, a vivid blue cross radiates outward from a field of saturated red, encircled by a luminous yellow border. The work pulses with chromatic intensity while maintaining a sense of stillness and equilibrium.

Executed as a monotype and layered with oils, dry pigments, watercolor, and ink on handmade rag paper, the piece exemplifies Francis’s experimental approach to printmaking. The monotype process yields a single unique impression, aligning perfectly with his intuitive and improvisational method. Francis favored handmade paper for its responsiveness to pigment. Here, the surface absorbs and resists color in varying degrees, producing subtle shifts in saturation and atmosphere.

Although often associated with Abstract Expressionism, Francis developed a visual language that transcended stylistic boundaries. His career spanned Paris, Tokyo, and California, and his work reflects a synthesis of European modernism, Zen philosophy, and Jungian thought. By 1980, his compositions frequently engaged symbolic structures while remaining resolutely abstract.

The blue cross in this work is both formal and conceptual. It extends beyond the red field and yellow border, reaching into untouched areas of the paper. This outward thrust suggests expansion and spiritual projection rather than confinement. The cross functions less as a religious emblem than as an archetypal meeting point, a convergence of horizontal and vertical forces, body and spirit, interior and exterior.

Influenced by Carl Jung’s writings on the union of opposites, Francis approached such forms as expressions of psychic integration. In this context, the cross becomes a visual diagram of reconciliation. The primary colors engage in dynamic dialogue, while the white paper serves as active space, offering breath and possibility.

“Untitled (SFM 80-016)” stands as a singular work that merges color, gesture, and symbol with technical daring. Through radiant contrast and open composition, Francis creates an image that is both elemental and expansive, inviting contemplation of balance, energy, and inner transformation.