an artist’s manipulation of the elements of art

ABSTRACT

NONOBJECTIVE

NONFIGURATIVE

NONREPRESENTATIONAL

a specialized visual language employed to make compositions autonomous from specific visual references

the (long & winding) road to ABSTRACTION

First was the illusion…

MasaccioThe Holy Trinity1427Florence, Italy

and more illusion…

Raphaelle Peale,Tabletop Still Life, 1810

and then… came Cezanne

Paul Cezanne, The Bay from L'Estaque, 1886

…and Picasso and the Cubists

Pablo Picasso, The Guitar Player, 1908

“not a vehicle for social political change”

Piet Mondrian, Composition A, 1923

although some of the original avant-garde modernists (Malevich, Kandinsky & Mondrian)aspired for utopian and spiritual beliefs

Kasimir Malevich, Suprematism nr. 58, 1916

Pablo Picasso, Les demoiselles d'avignon, 1907

Types of abstract art… Early Cubism

Georges Braque. The Portuguese. 1911

Types of abstract art… Analytical Cubism

Pablo Picasso, Still Life with Compote and Glass, Oil on canvas, 1914-15

Types of abstract art… Synthetic Cubism

Wassily Kandinsky, Painting with Red Spot, 1914

Types of abstract art… Biomorphic

Joan Miro, Red Sun, 1943

Types of abstract art… Biomorphic

Yves Tanguy, Through Birds, through Fire, but Not through Glass ..., 1943

Types of abstract art… Biomorphic

František Kupka, 1910, 1911, 1913

Types of abstract art… Color or Light related

MARK ROTHKO, No. 12, 1951

Types of abstract art… Color or Light related

Piet Mondrian, Broadway Boogie Woogie, 1942

Types of abstract art… Geometric/Hard Edge

Josef Albers, Homage to the Square, 1951

Types of abstract art… Geometric/Hard Edge

Jackson Pollock, Number 8, 1949

Types of abstract art… Abstract Expressionism

Willem de Kooning, Gotham News, 1955

Types of abstract art… Abstract Expressionism

Robert Motherwell, octavio paz 1981

Types of abstract art… Abstract Expressionism

Frank Stella, Marriage of Reason and Squalor, II, 1958

Types of abstract art… Minimalism

Robert Mangold: Four Color Frame Painting #5, 1984

Types of abstract art… Minimalism

Robert Ryman, Hansa, 1993

Types of abstract art… Minimalism

Bridget Riley, Intake,1964

Types of abstract art… OP Art

Victor Vasarely, Anaxo, 1970-73

Types of abstract art… OP Art

Sol LeWitt, Wall Drawing #260, 1975, Chalk on painted wall.

Types of abstract art… Post Modern

George Baselitz, Women of Dresden-The Laughing, 1990

Types of abstract art… Neo Expressionism

Anselm Kiefer, Wölundlied, 1982, Oil, emulsion, straw, photograph (on projection paper) on canvas with lead wing

Types of abstract art… Neo Expressionism

Donald Judd, Untitled, 1968(born in Excelsior Springs, MO)

Types of abstract art… Post Modern

the following examples are paintings & drawings from the exhibition “Abstraction in America, Part II: The 1970s and 1980s” at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY

Quotes from Elaine A. King, curator of the exhibition

“The image discloses his enduring fascination with the tension between perceptual and conceptual experience. Only formal, nonverbal structure is an important concern for Bochner.”

“… it is an aesthetic utility of paint blots vs. carefully delineated forms. The blot will suggest different ideas – it serves to enlarge the powers of invention .”

“… discloses her interest in nature melding with her personal and gestural abstract style.” (she had done aerial landscapes based n maps of the moon and similar sources)

“… intended to be visual – requires no words or point of reference – it simply beckons one to step closer to discover and experience.”

“Her work straddles the natural world and the realm of abstraction – she claims that her interest in dance subtly evinces an organic sensibility in her drawings and sculptures.”

“Only the title alludes to a recognizable reference. The language of minimalism is the faint visual vehicle that transports the artist’s concepts and processes.”

“Informed by the vitality of conceptual art, Topolski employs the languages of science and harmonic music.”

To review…• Illusion of 3D Form & Space (Renaissance & beyond)

• Rejection of illusionary form & space (Cezanne: the “father of Modernism”, Picasso & Cubism etc.)

• Modernism embraced Concerns for the Formal Elements (no illusions, flat, nonobjective)

• By the late 1960’s artists began abandoning Modernism because of it’s lack of spiritual essence and intellectual rigor. (Pop Art etc. – What should the function of art in society be?)

What is “good” abstract art?

Why is it, or why is it not?

• Consistent technique The flow from one side to the next is cohesive. It doesn’t look as if it was the first time someone has done it.• The colors match Or are deliberately and obviously mismatched. Crayola red clashes with Martha Stewart teal. If the colors don’t work

well together, it’s likely less sophisticated.• It’s timeless It should “work” as well now as it did 50 years ago, as it will 100 years from now. • Layers and texture Generally good abstract is built on more than one layer of paint on the canvas. • Confident The artist creating the piece knew exactly what s/he was trying to do, and did so without hesitation. There are no

uncomfortable paint strokes that seem to turn with hesitation. Even Jackson Pollock known for his expressionist type of abstracts (paint splatter paintings) had rhythm in his technique. It wasn’t just random paint splatter.

• Even consistent paint texture The texture and thickness of the paint on the canvas shouldn’t be a distraction to the color and composition.

• Does it look “executed” and planned? Or does it look like someone bought a canvas and some paints, and just started putting paint randomly on the canvas?

• Does it have complexity? A person painting abstracts year after year starts to develop and grow as an artist. So you won’t see basic paint techniques. Often you will see techniques and complexities that you can’t even replicate yourself because they have been so fine tuned by the artist over many years.

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