Friday, July 30, 2010
|
|
|
| 1/15/2010 8:38:00 AM |
Email this article • Print this article |
Exhibit to feature works of abstract artist Robert Motherwell
Carolyn Harmon
For the Putnam Standard
|
| Robert Motherwell (1915-1991)
SIGNS ON WHITE 1981
Lift-Ground Etching and Aquatint
on German Etching Paper
20 1/4 x 27 1/2 inches (plate)
27 1/2 x 33 7/8 inches (paper)
2/59
Image courtesy of The Clay Center |
|
CHARLESTON - Abstract Expressionist Robert Motherwell's art has been described as innovative, monumental, experimental, personal, political, majestic, intellectual, lyrical, engaging, and significant.
While some may add words such as confusing to the list of descriptions - artist and board member of The Renaissance Art Gallery, in Huntington, Susan Tschantz explains Motherwell's importance to American art.
"He distilled life to its basic expression," Tschantz explained. "Each time you look at his condensed images, you 'see' something different. The graphic nature of it leaves much to the imagination, allowing my own thoughts and culture to 'finish' the work. Over his long life, his work kept improving; kept moving forward. You see movement and life in his work."
Other considerations can be made during his upcoming exhibit, "Lost in Form, Found in Line," at the Clay Center for the Arts and Sciences, in Charleston.
Organized by the Jerald Melberg Gallery, in Charlotte, N.C. in association with the Dedalus Foundation, this exhibition explores Motherwell's working process with lithographs, screen prints, etchings, monoprints, drawings, collages and paintings dating from 1966 to 1990.
In addition to Charleston, this traveling exhibit has been displayed in Boone, N.C.; New Castle, Pa.; and Jacksonville, Fla. It will continue traveling to other states after its display in West Virginia.
It is said that Motherwell, along with other New York City Abstract Expressionists, such as Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Mark Rothko and Franz Kline, revolutionized painting.
Motherwell's importance might well be more in the promotion and articulation of art than in his own considerable artwork, Tschantz explained.
Many artists have difficulty talking about their work. Motherwell supported his fellow artists by explaining Modern Art and Modernism, as his educational background enabled him to be a leading spokesperson for the Abstract Expressionist movement.
Motherwell painted against the grain. He and his fellow artists went up against harsh criticism. But unlike many of the abstract expressionist of that era, his own work did not peak young, Tschantz explained.
Motherwell peaked, as it were, in his 70's, she said.
While artists, such as Picasso worked well into their later years, their best work, that is cited, is often work done in their younger, more energetic years, she said.
"I find this encouraging in a time when America is aging," Tschantz said. "When we will soon have the largest, and healthiest senior population we have ever had - I am including myself in this. So we can believe we have yet to do our best, and still need to work."
Tschantz said if people see this exhibition, even if they do not like abstract art, they will come away pleased.
"If they remember - this art is not about objects; but expression. Not about reality; but what shapes can mean; what it can symbolize and represent - an abstract idea," she said.
Lost in Form, Found in Line: An Exhibition of Works by Robert Motherwell (1915-1991)
will be displayed Jan. 16 through March 28 at the Clay Center, in Charleston. For more information, log onto www.theclaycenter.org.
|
| |
|
Article Comment Submission Form
|
|
|
|
