Pointillism Now

As we all know, there was a time when pointillism was used in portraying realistic scenes and the purpose was for the eyes to blend the colors, rather than the artist's brushes. Now, fast forward a hundred and twenty years and we have artists who thoroughly celebrate the individual points or dots of color. No need now for a realistic scene - we have plenty of photographs and Google Earth for that. Now we can appreciate the simple, basic dots of color just for themselves. And there are more than a few artists who explore the many possibilities of using dots, whether random or organized, as the sole content in their work. So there's not a lot to figure out here. This is simply eye candy. A mood maker, actually; soothing and beautiful.

This is Heidi Van Wieren. Try as I might there doesn't seem to be any good biography or info about her. There are lists of her accomplishments and education, but nothing else of personal interest. She was born in '73.

Her paintings are about capturing and holding light. And she uses the unorthodox material of Elmers Glue. Elmers glue and ink in layers. Whoever took the photos did a great job of allowing us to see exactly how her paintings "work". They really do hold the light and have a wonderful depth to them.

But I'm particularly captivated with the random dots as content. There's just this easy, comfortable, relaxing presentation of an atmosphere filled with floating dots of color. No political or emotional messages to unravel. No hidden meanings or art historic resemblances. Just a simple quietness; a soothing comfort. There's a pop, zen quality to them.

The above image is "Sky One III", Elmer's Glue/PVA & Ink on Panel 28" x 24", 2004.

Top image is "Green Scene I", Elmer's Glue/PVA & Ink on Panel 38" x 46", 2001.

And both images are from the Roy Boyd Gallery in Illinois. They have 19 examples of her work.

Klein Artworks has an installation shot of her 2003 show and 10 examples of her work.

And Margaret Thatcher Projects has 5 examples of work from 2006.