Spring.
Earth + geometry. Lack of information.
Agnes Denes, Wheatfield - A Confrontation, 1982 (Agnes Denes)
Otherworldly and forever relevant. I love her quote “…an intrusion of the country into the metropolis, the world's richest real estate”.
Helen Frankenthaler, Tutti-Frutti, 1966 (Buffalo AGK Art Museum)
I first saw this painting on the cover of Speedboat by Renata Adler, a collection of fragmented accounts taking place in New York. Helen Frankenthaler can do so much with so little, and thinks about how much information is really required to get the message through. A more concise way of putting this would be ‘concise’. Slow movement. Exposed canvas. Thin morphing puddles of paint. Stealing that!
I have been using a lot of this fleshy muddy purple. The spirituality and whimsy of this painting feels very relevant for spring.
Helen Lundeberg, Studio– Afternoon, 1958 - 1959. (Laguna Beach Museum of Art)
This painting works in a lot of ways and you can really see what you want to see. On one hand, it is purely abstract geometric forms. Studies in value and color. As you look closer, the canvases leaning against the wall, the hung painting, the doorway, and easel unfold. In the family of de Chirico’s perspective and Lisa Yuskavage’s studio paintings. I’ve been working in these rich tones of wine and navy and olive, but I’ll be stealing this mustard this season.
Jennifer Packer. Jordan. 2014.
Another artist in my family. Jennifer Packer’s paintings validated my washes of Gamsol paint, intentionally ‘unfinished’ scenes, monochromatic schemes, and breaking the rules of painting. I am clearly very drawn to concise works. The lack of information always leads to thinking.
Louise Bourgeois. Ode à l'Oubli. 2004. (MoMA)
An embroidered tactile book. My embroidery teacher in school assisted in crafting this book, and I remember seeing some of these same patterned fabrics in the classroom scrap bin. Organic and geometric. That fleshy muddy pink again.
Sophie Taeuber-Arp. Vertical, Horizontal, Square, Rectangular (Vertical, horizontal, carré, rectangulaire). 1917. (MoMA)
Yum. This show at the MoMa was incredible. Will be stealing all of these colors. I love paint strokes contained within geometry. Thank god women are being brought back into the conversation of and ‘rediscovered’ because usually they do it best. Who said that.
Helen Mayer Harrison and Newton, Survival Piece #5: Portable Orchard, 1972-73 (Whitney)
This recreation of the original 1972-73 piece consists of 18 orange trees and lights, creating an indoor citrus grove. It questions food sources, sustainability, and how we would survive if faced with environmental disaster. It is in the same family as Wheatfield - A Confrontation, completely relevant as time goes on. I really enjoy pieces with written instructions on how to recreate in the future and I think the Whitney did a great job with this.
Vija Celamins. Untitled (Double Desert). 1974. (Hammer Museum)
Again, what I like the most about this is the contained texture within a geometric shape. I can almost feel and hear this drawing, but it is so quiet. Monochromatic.
Mamma Andersson. Humdrum Day. 2013 (Stephen Friedman Gallery)
I am working on a painting of a table now - one with disregarded objects left behind from people in the space. I love the translucent of her the salt box and the graphic tablecloth/wall. The solidness of the chair.
