Posts Tagged ‘abstract expressionism’
On Not Being Able to Write
On days in which I do an oil painting, it’s easy to write a blog. On other days, not so much.
Take, for instance, Wednesday. I was scheduled for an appointment with the chiropractor for the last of a series of back corrections from having driven from Florida to Maryland a month or so ago. In the meantime, last Saturday I began the day with a large bucket of soap and bleach water and scrubbed my deck furniture and some of the mildew from winter that had collected on the back of the house. As a result, I had developed a stiff neck – for 4 days! The chiro fixed me up, but last night I got something in my eye that just about did me in!
This morning, I finally got the eye problem abated, after lots more eye drops! All that from someone who has been sick hardly a day in her life!
Expressionism
Expressionism was a cultural movement originating in Germany at the start of the 20th century. It is exhibited in many art forms, including: painting, literature, theater, dance, film, architecture and music. Its typical trait is to present the world from a subjective perspective, violently distorting it to transmit personal moods. In general, the term refers to art that expresses intense emotion rather than physical reality.
A few of the Expressionists were: Klee, Van Gogh, Munch, Kandinsky, Chagall, deKooning and Pollock. Influenced by the Fauves, Expressionists worked with arbitrary colors as well as jarring compositions to capture vivid emotions. Kandinski believed that with simple colors and shapes, the spectator could perceive the moods and feelings of the paintings. Therefore, he make the move to abstraction. ……from Wikipedia
Painting at Leslie’s
On Mondays, I have a standing arrangement with my friends that we will do landscape painting. However, the weather didn’t cooperate today so Leslie said she would set up a still life if we wanted to go to her house. It was a good thing that we did as the day turned out very humid and uncomfortable.
When I arrived, Leslie was gathering flowers and later set them in a vase on a cloth on a coffee table. We set up our easels and began in air conditioned comfort. Later, her husband even brought us lunch! Now, it doesn’t get much better than that!
The net result was that Leslie and Suzanne turned out very fine paintings, Betty joined us for a while and shared art info, and agreed to take paintings tomorrow to Ocean City for their next show. And I was less than happy with mine!
A Brief Overview of Abstract Expressionism
Following World War II, New York City was the epicenter for unique styles and creative energy. One of the main movements that spawned from this artistic whirlwind was abstract expressionism art. The term, first coined in 1946 by art critic Robert Coates, is used to describe a range of spontaneous and surrealist creations.
One of the main artists in this movement was Jackson Pollock. His drip paintings stressed the importance of the creative process, not just the finished product. While to the untrained-eye abstract expressionism may appear to be a muddled, amateurish art form, the pieces exhibit a subconscious attention to a greater theme.