This painting was one of Gene Davis’s earliest experiments with stripes, a form that he returned to many times during his career. During the 1950s, he joined in the abstract expressionist fever and created canvases covered with spontaneous, dynamic brushstrokes. He used stripes as a way of playing with color, applying bold strokes of paint rapidly to a dark, roughly brushed background. These dramatic lines evoke ribbons that have been pinned to the top of the canvas, their tails fluttering freely in the air.