The Process, again

"When I am in a painting, I'm not aware of what I'm doing. It is only after a sort of 'get acquainted' period that I see what I have been about. I have no fears about making changes, destroying the image, etc, because the painting has a life of its own. I try to let it come through. It is only when I lose contact with the painting that the result is a mess. Otherwise there is pure harmony, an easy give and take, and the painting comes out well." Jackson Pollock

the process

."...putting down what I felt in terms of some overall image at the moment today, and perhaps being terribly disappointed with it tomorrow... trying to make it better and then despairing and destroying partially or wholly... getting back into it and just kind of frantically trying to pull something into this rectangle that made sense to me... "(Richard Diebenkorn)


Richard Diebenkorn

Abstract Art

Arshile Gorky

Abstraction allows man to see with his mind what he cannot physically see with his eyes... Abstract art enables the artist to perceive beyond the tangible, to extract the infinite out of the finite. It is the emancipation of the mind. It is an explosion into unknown areas. (Arshile Gorky

Line

Giovanni Boldini (1842-1931)
Does it really matter that we are looking at a portrait of John Singer Sargent. Probably only to Sargent. What does matter of a great deal is the use of the positive and negative space on the picture plane. Boldini's painting is much more interesting because of what has been left out. His use of line to define space is of utmost importance.

Painting

Rich Bass in his book Fiber writes: " Art is selectivity-that which you choose to put in a story --and it's what you choose to leave out too."

Painting can be described in the same way. What is left out of the painting is as significant as what is painted on the canvas. To get a glimpse of this look backward in time, start with the minimalist, such as Agnes Martin, look at Matisse, and continue back in time.
Line is much more important than subject matter.


Agnes Martin

Color

Kandinsky wrote that "color directly influences the soul" and can "produce a correspondent spiritual vibration."


Wassily Kandinsky: Murnau Street with Women

August 1 2009

Anselm Kiefer


"I am interested in restructuring symbols. It is all about connecting with old knowledge and trying to discover continuities in why we search for heaven." Anselm Kiefer

cbenda 2009 circle series