Abstraction Academy | artistvenu

What to see in Atlanta this month

August 8, 2021 (updated August 9, 2021) Published by jayInStudio

on my recent annual visit with my sister, Chery Baird, who lives in Atlanta, we spent a day visiting the High Museum, and several galleries.

although i saw a few interesting paintings, many of the galleries were showing rather tepid work. pale color, relaxing quiet abstractions… perhaps because it is summer.

the main draw of the day was an extensive show comparing works by two 20th century masters: Alexander Calder and Pablo Picasso at the High Museum.

although the two artists only met in person a couple of times, their work influenced the other substantially. seeing the influences laid out in a beautifully presented, and well-documented exhibit was a thrill!

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overall, i vastly preferred the Calder’s on view. the Picasso paintings kept disappointing me because he would add an iconized “smiley face” onto a beautifully composed abstract – ruining it for me.

below i show two examples of an excellent (without the smiley face) and so-so (with the smiley face) version of one of Picasso’s paintings in the exhibit. you may or may not agree with me.

another portrait – much more abstract, was more disturbing emotionally, but much more satisfying.

Calder by contract, i found consistently amusing, and transporting.

so if you are anywhere near Atlanta (the last day is september 19) be sure to stop by!

Facing Catastrophe With Calm

August 8, 2021 (updated June 24, 2022) Published by artistvenu

Joshua Marsh, “Asymmetrical Synthesis of the Sensible” (2021), acrylic on canvas over panel, 22 x 17 inches

BEACON, NY — I have been following Joshua Marsh’s work ever since I saw and reviewed Ten Things, his first show of paintings and drawings at the now-defunct Jeff Bailey Gallery in the fall of 2010. Then, in 2017, I reviewed Joshua Marsh: Paper Garden at Jeff Bailey Gallery, after it had relocated to Hudson, New York. Two things struck me about the latter exhibition.

The first is that Marsh is creating two distinct bodies of work: pencil drawings, where textures are articulated with hallucinatory precision, and tonally saturated paintings, in which form and dissipation, materiality and immateriality, create a site of contemplation. The second is that Marsh, who started the drawings in Paper Garden while he was an artist-in-residence in the Troedsson Villa in Japan, which is located on the grounds of a former temple in Nikko, a city north of Tokyo and UNESCO World Heritage site, has experienced some of the landscapes recorded by Classical Japanese artists.

Read the full article here…

How Piet Mondrian’s Abstractions Became a New Way To See The World

July 24, 2021 (updated July 24, 2021) Published by artistvenu

Piet Mondrian, Victory Boogie Woogie, (1942–44).KUNSTMUSEUM DEN HAAG/PUBLIC DOMAIN

Inside his final studio, on East 59th street in New York, Dutch painter Piet Mondrian covered each wall with painted papers cut into crisp rectangles. Mondrian had become famous at the beginning of the 20th century for this signature style: the three primary colors framed by thick bands of black. But in this piece, the colors had been released from their frames, creating a mosaic of pulsing beats, evoking his beloved jazz and the city’s electric grid.

“We must destroy the particular form” was Mondrian’s mantra throughout his life, and he applied that throughout his career, even breaking down the forms that had made him famous. His final two pieces—Broadway Boogie Woogie (1943) and Victory Boogie Woogie (1942–1944)—attempted to do just that, reducing New York to its essence. And with Victory Boogie Woogie, left unfinished at the time of his death in 1944, Mondrian pushed the destruction of his conventions even further, turning the canvas so it became a diamond instead of a square. He conceived the painting in anticipation of the Allied triumph, which he never lived to celebrate.

Read the full article here…

How Alma Thomas’s Radiant Paintings Plotted a New Course for Abstraction

July 24, 2021 (updated June 24, 2022) Published by artistvenu

Alma Thomas, Snoopy Sees a Sunrise, 1970.SMITHSONIAN NATIONAL AIR AND SPACE MUSEUM

In 1963, Alma Thomas set out to turn Henri Matisse on his head. Two years before, in 1961, she attended a show of Henri Matisse’s late-career gouaches at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. There, she saw The Snail (1952–53), in which cut-and-pasted squares of colorful paper are arranged in a spiral-like shape, abstractly alluding to a gastropod without ever outright showing it.

Thomas got to work, effectively recreating the iconic Matisse gouache with a twist. Her version, titled Watusi (Hard Edge), likewise contains a jumble of rectangles, rhombuses, and squares. Look closely, however, and you realize that Thomas has rotated Matisse’s composition 90 degrees. The medium has changed, from gouache to acrylic on canvas, and arguably, the subject matter has changed, too. Judging by Thomas’s title, no longer does the work refer to an animal. Now, it may call to mind a dance style popular in the ’60s whose name came from the Tutsi people in Africa.

Read the full article here…

abstracting tradition

July 18, 2021 (updated February 25, 2023) Published by jayInStudio

some artists are born within cultures that have specific visual art histories, based on traditions handed down over centuries.

asian and Arab artists are particularly notable, since both may employ calligraphy (an honored tradition in both cultures) in work that otherwise feels very abstract.

i think the path into abstraction for asian artists is a easier path, because Zen practices allow for loose control – such as the practice of ink flinging. which influenced both Jackson Pollock and Robert Motherwell – to name just two western artists. there have been many others.

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in the Muslim Arab world, imagery, especially of humans, but not allowed. although many folk artists, as well as fine artists, ignored that dictum. but wildly rendered, almost illegible calligraphy, was allowed. in fact, it was venerated. as the viewer deciphered the text, somewhat like unraveling a drawer of loose string, the message became known. contemplation was rewarded with knowledge.

today i came across two good examples of the stretching of tradition, leading to beautiful abstractions.

the Arab artist is Helen Abbas, a contemporary Syrian artist. the Asian artist is Hong Zhu An, a contemporary Chinese artist.

i hope you enjoy their work. we discuss many artist’s work in our weekly Focus On Abstraction Zoom meeting on artistvenu. i look forward to seeing you there!

similar but not the same

July 16, 2021 (updated February 25, 2023) Published by jayInStudio

in our weekly online meeting of artists, this week we discussed two similar artists’ works. Richard Diebenkorn and Frank P Phillips, a contemporary artist. Diebenkorn died in 1993, after a very successful career of painting and teaching. Frank P Phillips was born in 1974. it is obvious that Phillips is aware of Diebenkorn’s work. the use of multiple framing devices, mostly on the left edge, and large open, slightly translucent space in the center of the canvases is a dead giveaway.

Inspiring Art Topic Discussion Like This with Me & "Private" Community Artist Members

but where are the differences? as artists, we usually subscribe to the dictum that our work should be unique. a difficult task – if you know your art history, and are aware of what is currently being shown in galleries.

in our discussion, there was a lot of back and forth among us, and some very perceptive comments. it’s always great when artists can get together to discuss art!

please join us to discuss art every week! thursdays, at 11am CST. different kinds of topics are discussed, but lately, we have been discussing abstract artwork that i have come across, both current and “vintage”.

looking, learning, and sharing. artistvenu.studio

How Mondrian Went Abstract

July 15, 2021 (updated July 15, 2021) Published by artistvenu

Piet MondrianNo. VI / Composition No. II, 1920Tate Liverpool

During the early 20th century, many of these artists acknowledged the influence of Pablo Picasso and cubism—and if they didn’t, odds are they were lying. Artists also characteristically connected their work to a religion or philosophy that promoted simplification, though this connection has probably been made less and less significant due to the dominance of formalist readings of art history.One of the most well-known abstract artists of the 20th century is Piet Mondrian, and his path to abstraction had all of the aforementioned attributes. However, while his abstract, gridded paintings grace the walls of museums around the world and have become icons of modern art in a way few others have, it’s unclear to most people how he arrived at his well-known style.

Read the full article here…

Category: Abstraction Academy

What to see in Atlanta this month

Inspiring Art Topic Discussion Like This with Me & "Private" Community Artist Members

Facing Catastrophe With Calm

How Piet Mondrian’s Abstractions Became a New Way To See The World

How Alma Thomas’s Radiant Paintings Plotted a New Course for Abstraction

abstracting tradition

Inspiring Art Topic Discussion Like This with Me & "Private" Community Artist Members

similar but not the same

Inspiring Art Topic Discussion Like This with Me & "Private" Community Artist Members

How Mondrian Went Abstract

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