Equally well known as a painter, teacher, and art critic, Andrew Forge has been described as a painter of perception. Early in his career, he was driven by his interest in the challenge of translating what he saw into paint on canvas. Later on, he pared down his focus to the perception of painting itself, creating works through which he would explore the visual, emotional, and psychological effects of color, shape, and composition, much like Abstract Expressionist painter Mark Rothko. He eventually reduced his formal vocabulary to two different marks: tiny dots and thin, short dashes. Out of these marks, he would craft complex compositions that were optically rich, full of color, and alive with undulating movement, sometimes containing hints of a figure or landscape.