Showcasing abstract paintings with writing or dots. Abstract calligraphy, postmodern pointillism, marks, gestures & scribbles, text and language based works.
The Artists you're looking for, are listed in the categories below.
Brigitte Waldach works in red and combines words with images of people. The compositions are spare and powerful. I've always appreciated Eastern Drawings with their calligraphy, but here we can actually read the text. So we have a bit of a different spin on a very old eastern tradition of combining images with words.
If you weren't aware of Damien Hirst's Spot Paintings extravaganza this spring, then you really need to get out more (on the Internet). There was so much ink spilled over those simultaneous shows that I'll not rehash it. At any rate, it was very refreshing to hear that he now has a show of works that are representational, with dots that he actually painted himself. I really was anxious to see these new works, but try as I might, just can't bring myself to like them. And it has everything to do with composition and balance. A few are nice enough, but so many of the paintings just seem to be off balance and feel uncomfortable.
See for yourself.
Using dots as a compositional tool; that's exactly the thought that struck me upon seeing "Butterfly (La Primavera)" by Tat Ito. This painting so easily does it's job and makes it crystal clear that something as simple as a dot(s) can accomplish what's necessary when making a work of art.
I hope you can bear with me for just a moment as I dig up a very old and what might seem like a totally irrelevant and useless word; Pointillism. Lets start by saying that the prefix "point" in pointillism brings to mind something small, like the tip of a small brush, when in fact, Pointillism (the movement) was all about individual brush-strokes. So if we could broaden our vision just a bit to include larger brush-strokes and then allow abstraction as well as realism or representation, you'll find that we're in a new place.
And this is what I'd like you to consider as you look at the paintings of Judith Murray. Pointillism was/is a very good idea (way to think about painting) and through the years many an artist has proudly picked up this banner to carry it forward. But what goes unnoticed are all the artists who have joined the ranks and don't fly the colors. If you read any text about Judith's work, no one it talking about her breaking down the picture into brush-strokes (which would be pointillism). Instead they're using all the current verbiage that one uses to promote a female painter. And she deserves any and all the praise and promotion they can give her. But I'm just hoping that now, what you'll see in her lovely paintings is the fresh, reincarnation of Pointillism; a wonderful old tool that still works well.
There's a show up, at the RH Gallery called Text In Progress and it's my kind of show. They have a couple of the usual suspects like Leon Farrari and Fiona Banner who bring some familiarity to what might be a whole new experience for some gallery-goers. I can't tell you how excited I get when I encounter a painting that you can read. For me there's just something magical about that.
Other than Leon's work, I was most intrigued by Joe Hardesty. The image is from his Website.
The sticky question for me is whether this is word-text paintings or language-based art. . . . .
I've had the distinct pleasure of making the acquaintance of Allen C. Smithaka Denny Smith and watching his oeuvre expand and mature. It wasn't that many years ago that he was working plein-air on a 15ft "painting" of sailboats at the Keuka Lake Art Fair in Hammonds Port, NY. and a friendship was born. Back then he was using wax crayons and both the subject matter and the medium seemed meant for each other. Later he began a series of geo-minimal compositions using graphite; these were amazingly elegant and luxurious and a quantum leap in seriousness. But alas, these too had inherent problems which lead him to experiment with yet, other mediums. He's currently working in water color and his Bon Chance Series is particularly interesting because he's using both rules and chance to determine the colors, lines and layers in these grid-oriented compositions. Once, during a studio visit he explained how that when he sets his mind free and gets into his "zone", that the motions of his painting are akin to scribbling - unplanned gestures that are free of intellectual guidance; and the enjoyment he fells when the physical supersedes the mental. Obviously it's all under control, and it was special to be privy to this artist's inner guidance system.
Paintings by Wendy White are at first confusing; like you've stumbled into a nether world where urban art, studio practice and signage have all collided. But it doesn't take long to feel comfortable with these surprisingly sane and sensible works where language is front and center.
Her Website is straight-forward and easy to navigate.
