Out of the Blue I

Studies with Thomas Hart Benton at the Art Students League in New York led to Busa’s joining the circle of Jackson Pollock as well as being unofficially tutored by Arshile Gorky and Stuart Davis. The artist also developed a close relationship with Chilean-born surrealist Roberto Matta. These artists met regularly along with William Baziotes and Robert Motherwell to experiment with automatic drawing as a means for unleashing the creative potential of the unconscious.

This large color field expressionist work, with its built up surface, also reveals Busa’s contact with Hans Hofmann.

Busa settled in the artistic community of Provincetown, Massachusetts in the early 1950s before teaching appointments at New York University, Cooper Union and the Art Students League.