Week 10 Progress

Currently I'm working on a new painting in the modernism theme.  I really like the composition and how it is going so far.  I'll address last week's feelings with the thought that I felt positive about the subject matter and the drawing, but after working on it, became dissatisfied with the results and have taken the painting home and have reconfigured the work.  I intend to work over the weekend and will see where it takes me and whether I like it better.  That covers what's happening and my feelings for the work for this week and last week.  I believe that the reading I've done so far on the article of Abstract Expressionism has allowed me to feel like it is okay to experiment with my paintings and not feel everything we do has to have a conscious meaning; but in itself, going with your feelings is also an acceptable expression of art.  I've been looking into Salvador Dali and the Surrealism movement and have yet to get any in-depth information.  It is an interesting avenue of pursuit.  The photos of work in progress follows.     

 

 

These are a couple of interesting Dali works which I liked.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Week 9 Progress

This week I started on my first canvas of the five required for this half of the semester.  Photos will follow.  Also, I completed the first of the two required articles on my choice of abstract art, this one on Abstract Expressionism.  I have a copy of Kadinsky's article, "Concerning The Spirit in Art."  It is the size of a small book, so it will be some time before I will have that read and the report completed.  I've prepared my next 36" x 36" board, this time sanding and applying gesso, so I continue to learn what works and what does not.  Until next week, that is everything in process.

 

Oct. 22, 2015

Mary M. Ross

Painting

Article:  “Overview of Abstract Expressionist Ideas.”

 

In my research on abstract painting, I came upon this article about the subject, and its first founding principles.  I found that it coincided with the line of study that I will be pursuing for this last half of the semester and thought it worthy of comment. The following is the synopsis of the article.

Most of the concentration of the article was from the opinions of Clement Greenberg and Harold Rosenberg.  Both had a great influence on Abstract Expressionism and followed the movement of Art through its changes and new creations.

Art turned from politics to the cause of art alone which at that time was great and heroic.  The movement from classical masters to freedom of expression was cutting edge and avant-garde.  Art turned to the expression of ordinary people in styles vivid and meaningful.  The canvas was no longer, “the space to reproduce, re-design, analyze or express an object, actual or imagined.”

This movement was inspired by Clement Greenberg in an essay, “Avant-garde and Kitsch;” as well as, Harold Rosenberg’s influence of Kant and Hegel.  This influence resulted in art being seen as an encounter between the artist and the canvas.  This was quite a change from past art philosophies and changed the concept of what current art could become or represent.  Gone was the classical portraits, landscapes, histories, etc. of the past, and now the door opened for works so non-conservative as Jackson Pollock’s thrown paint and debris paintings.

Abstract Expressionism gained attention and was featured in the popular magazines of the day, “Life,” and “Vogue.”  During this time, American painters took over the role of cultural leadership and was embraced by the State Department as a means of good publicity.  The State Department funded tours of American painters around Europe.  This movement was called “The Triumph of American Painting.”

In the l950’s this new movement faded and Abstract Expressionism became another staid and habitual art form.  It’s previous supporters (Greenberg and Rosenberg), believe it needed innovation.  Although Abstract Expressionism was short-lived, its influence produced the ideas that art became more and performance art emerged.  Art became an event, action, an encounter, even theatrical.

Greenberg spoke of art being “opticality, an experience of pictorial space that can be travelled through, literally, or figuratively, only with the eye.”  Note:  This is the area which coincides with my area of pursuit.  Victor Vaserely’s art is very much an optical, and visual illusion of abstract art.

Greenberg’s influence faded in the 1960’s but still left a significant effect on art.  The introduction of Pop art was part of the decline in opinion.  Still Abstract Expressionism has an after-life.

Sources: 

The Art Story:  Modern Art Theory – Abstract Expressionism and Theories.  2014.  

The Art Story Foundation.

Week 8 - Painting II

After answering the questions on your survey I was drawn to the work of two abstract artists Victor Vaserely and Joseph Albers.  Both artists use graphic forms as their subject matter, but with the use of their own stylization.  This is what I am drawn to for my work in the next five paintings.  I've obtained five panels in the 36" x 36" size and will draw my work to the size of the panel.  The large size will be a challenge and so will be getting them back and forth to school.  I don't imagine such considerations were taken into account as so many students actually live on campus but I'll do my best.  The five paintings will comprise one body of work, united by the theme of abstraction and form. 

Two paintings I enjoyed were by Victor Vaserely.

 

Another painter I liked was Joseph Albers.

 

 

 

I enjoyed these painters who used simple forms with bright paint colors in a new way.  I'm very much taken with their work and it appeals to me as something abstract and also as pop art which I find entertaining and a part of current culture.  I intend to continue to look into this aspect of art and similar artists.