To pick up where we left off last week: what about the idea that abstract painting is inherently progressive, that it aligns itself with those who work for equality, democracy, and the common good?
I don't know why but this time I was moved to tears reading this chronicle. Thank you! Maybe a sense of loss... is the world as it is now not killing all the hope and faith abstraction brought many? An odd idea. Best, Francesca Pollock
Wonderful read Carter. I especially love "no meaning takes up permanent residence in a certain kind of painting." So true, each one of us brings our own unique meaning to an artwork. As far as I'm concerned that's the mystery and power of it....thank you for your thought provoking insights!
I once made the mistake of trying to force abstract art (for myself, of course) into the same golden frames as my favorite representational pieces. The idea of doing such a thing reminds me of trying to put a scream in a bottle, something my little sister and I did all the time when we were children. And we really, really believed we could do it if we could close the lid over the jar fast enough.
I will never forget the look of joy on her face, waiting for me to open the giant glass container again, believing her excitement had actually been captured and was about to be released.
There was such a look of disappointment when nothing ever happened. Honestly, I don’t know where the sound went, but it was the experience itself – the waiting, the anticipation, the excitement, and the faith- that made it memorable. Now I know this probably doesn’t make any sense, but for me, when I see a work of abstract art I have come to realize it is not about what I want to see, it’s about the artist screaming into a bottle and we are experiencing that wonderful moment together.
Wow, thanks for this piece. As an artist who has devoted much of my life to abstract painting, you've brought up some of the questions I've asked myself, but never bothered to answer, perhaps because the questions are more interesting to me than any answer I could come up with.
As an abstract painter myself, and one who has recently allowed empathetic modes of representation trickle in, reading this has helped me understand the importance of abstraction and why I am an abstract painter in the first place. Thank you, much appreciated. Doubling down and recommitting.
You know what doesn't have a frame or well-defined edge, an explosion, perhaps a nuclear explosion. Post-war abstraction may owe much to the Manhattan Project. Artists have always had to deal with the edge of the canvas, if not the frame. The question has always been where does the organizing impulse of creativity end and the chaos of existence begin. Meaning and nothingness.
I don't know why but this time I was moved to tears reading this chronicle. Thank you! Maybe a sense of loss... is the world as it is now not killing all the hope and faith abstraction brought many? An odd idea. Best, Francesca Pollock
bravo
Wonderful read Carter. I especially love "no meaning takes up permanent residence in a certain kind of painting." So true, each one of us brings our own unique meaning to an artwork. As far as I'm concerned that's the mystery and power of it....thank you for your thought provoking insights!
Great article, you are an alchemist bringing all of these elements together!
I once made the mistake of trying to force abstract art (for myself, of course) into the same golden frames as my favorite representational pieces. The idea of doing such a thing reminds me of trying to put a scream in a bottle, something my little sister and I did all the time when we were children. And we really, really believed we could do it if we could close the lid over the jar fast enough.
I will never forget the look of joy on her face, waiting for me to open the giant glass container again, believing her excitement had actually been captured and was about to be released.
There was such a look of disappointment when nothing ever happened. Honestly, I don’t know where the sound went, but it was the experience itself – the waiting, the anticipation, the excitement, and the faith- that made it memorable. Now I know this probably doesn’t make any sense, but for me, when I see a work of abstract art I have come to realize it is not about what I want to see, it’s about the artist screaming into a bottle and we are experiencing that wonderful moment together.
"...underlying order of the universe or the essence of the artist who produced it."
My reaction was to wonder if they can, at some level, be one and the same thing.
Steven Siegel
Wow, thanks for this piece. As an artist who has devoted much of my life to abstract painting, you've brought up some of the questions I've asked myself, but never bothered to answer, perhaps because the questions are more interesting to me than any answer I could come up with.
Love Rothko!
As an abstract painter myself, and one who has recently allowed empathetic modes of representation trickle in, reading this has helped me understand the importance of abstraction and why I am an abstract painter in the first place. Thank you, much appreciated. Doubling down and recommitting.
You know what doesn't have a frame or well-defined edge, an explosion, perhaps a nuclear explosion. Post-war abstraction may owe much to the Manhattan Project. Artists have always had to deal with the edge of the canvas, if not the frame. The question has always been where does the organizing impulse of creativity end and the chaos of existence begin. Meaning and nothingness.
Brillant. Love it. Thank you. Ariane