The former senior curator of the Zimmerli Museum Art Museum of Rutger Jeffrey Wechsler said while discussing this work. "A further instance of subtlety may be perceived in the many
canvases that emphasize Zutrau’s attention to slight details of paint
application that add interest to otherwise apparently very simple compositions. In an untitled painting from 1963, all the
viewer seems to be offered are two large blue rectangles, placed side by side.
However, Zutrau has employed a few intriguing devices that reward close
study. First, neither blue area is an
uninflected surface of flatly applied blue.
The rectangle on the left shows an application of a matte blue that
allows the perception of a lighter blue beneath, enlivening the area. The edge at the bottom is not a plain border,
but is slightly feathered to offer a soft effect. The rectangle on the right has a more
irregular surface, with scumbled paint applied in strokes that are relatively
wider than those on the left. The edges
of the painted areas do not uniformly reach the borders of the canvas; they leave
irregular blank spaces that carefully recede from or move toward the painting’s
periphery. And finally, an embellishment
of relatively heavy white impasto intercedes between the rectangles at the top
center – a textural surprise, as it were.
While the delicate visual variations of this painting are evidence
enough of Zutrau’s interest in prying out visual interest from extremely
reduced pictorial incident, this tendency is enhanced by his decision to only
use blue as the painting’s single chromatic component."