The theme of my Museum Is Gestural Abstraction. The works I have included in this gallery consist of works that have all types of energies. Every piece is up for interpretation. The works are non definitive in their meaning and are meant to run the mind through all the possible meanings. The museum is meant to get down to the basics of lines and shapes and how they can function when they aren't used to create easily recognizable forms.
I want visitors to think about the meaning of each artwork differently, but it all starts with the first impression: what stands out, why does it stand out, and how does it work with the other elements. All art is up for interpretation, and viewing art like this that has no inherent meaning will help train the mind. if you can find meaning in something that has no meaning, then surely you will be able to find meaning in what actually has meaning.
Room I - Chaos
The first room introduces the viewer to the aesthetics of certain abstract art. They share certain qualities that create an angst and uncertainty and almost violence within their works that either keep your eyes glued to the work, or turn you away shortly.
Julie Mehretu - Cairo - 2013
(Form) Mehretu created a monumental painting with Cairo, the piece itself is extremely large, but it is also extremely detailed. To start off, she begins her work by drawing over blueprints and maps of cities to create the landscape. Her work is very geometrical and architectural. The piece seems to be broken up into sections, those being the left, middle and right. Each section describes a different landscape than the other, but when put together, they create unity. There are many areas in the piece where depth is used to liven the landscape, such as the right side where it looks like a mountain is forming towards the center, but there is still action happening behind that. There is a giant tree in the very center of the piece, its trunk at the top middle of the section of negative space that becomes the focal point of this artwork and symbolizes a real place in Cairo called Tahrir Square that has been the place for many protests and has become a symbol of democracy.
Willem de Kooning - Excavation - 1950
(form) De Kooning’s art style can be very exaggerated and leaves the viewers drawing connections between different aspects shown throughout the piece. In this piece, he has drawn many humanoid faces, all with dramatic expressions. These dramatic expressions are all different, creating a variety in the work and also a very specific angst that emanates from the piece. There is a chaos about it that creates the aesthetic of the piece and makes this a very interesting piece to come back to and look at.
Elaine de Kooning - After Lascaux - 1984
(context) Elaine de Kooning was Willem de Kooning’s partner, making them a very prominent couple in the art world. This painting's title, After Lascaux is a reference to one of the oldest artworks found, that being the Cave of Lascaux where there are many paleolithic cave paintings from around 15,000 B.C.E. de Kooning had recently just come back from a trip to see those cave paintings and afterward was inspired to create this piece. The forms seen in her work resemble the forms seen in the cave paintings in Lascaux, those being the bison and stags mainly.
Jackson Pollock - Number 32 - 1950
(Form) In this piece, Pollock creates a violent scene on the canvas. Through the splintering of his paint, he creates movement in this piece that gives a sense of chaos to the work. A lot of the splatters are just that; splatters, but some of them seem to have intention behind their shape, as a lot of them resemble letters of the alphabet. The lines create collisions with each other throughout the piece and also create a repetitive pattern. Pollock utilizes the space of his canvas to its max, leaving minimal negative space, and also something interesting he does in this work is that there is no single focal point. This lack of focal point creates distress in the viewer, as there's nothing the mind can focus on, forcing them to continuously analyze the painting.
Room 2 - Geometry
The next room showcases the possibility of geometrical and linear relationships that art can have. These pieces have little color to focus more on the shapes and forms created.
Tomas Saraceno - Ha Chi Ki - 2021
(content) Ha Chi Ki is an artwork that depicts the geometry of bubbles, Saraceno draws them in different states, as seen by the ones on the right, the top one being a full bubble, the bottom one being a bubble that is in the middle of popping, and the middle one that is what remains of the bubble after popping. The subject matter is these bubbles, but what is most important is the interactions they have together, as they collide with one another they take on a new form or completely collapse and release their life. The title of the piece is three words, all three words mean the same: Life.
Margaret Neill - Manifest 1 - 2015
(content) This piece by Neill reminds me of many things. First of all, the subject matter of this artwork are the lines running along from one end to another. These lines are all sinusoidal in shape, they are waves, with different lengths and amplitudes. It seems as if the lines are moving to the right, and the dark gray background on the left side makes it look like a different atmosphere that the lines are in compared to the white background. The lines are darker on the left as if they are sinking into or combining with the dark background, but they aren't as dark on areas where the lines have the white background. These details suggest to me that the lines create movement to the right of the piece, and also suggest that the lines have a form. This form could be hair blowing in the wind, or hair getting taken out of water.
Franz Kline - Mahoning - 1956
(form) Kline’s art style uses bold lines throughout all his pieces. What is most interesting about this specific piece is the geometric shapes found within the chaos of the lines. Towards the center right of the piece you can find what looks like a two dimensional square. This gives the illusion that there is some sort of depth to this piece, even though the rest of the lines are flat. As your eyes follow actual lines in the piece, you find yourself moving across the piece several times. It’s so chaotic the only thing the mind can comprehend are the shapes that are hidden throughout the overlapping lines.
The City - Maria Helena Vieira da Silva - 1950
(form) Da Silva utilizes a two point perspective for this piece of art. She creates incredible depth that gives the illusion of an infinite plane. The lines become more condensed in the middle of the piece, which creates the focal point of the drawing and may be the reason for this piece’s name, as it looks as if there is a city among all those lines. On the left side, there are lines that lead to what looks like another city in the distance. This is not the case on the right however, as the right side gives the effect of a wall that the perspective is drawn from.
Room 3 - Colors
The final room of the museum shows the ways in which color can be used and how color is what gives random shapes real meaning. We correlate certain colors with certain ideas and just by utilizing those relationships can simple abstract art start to become less abstract.
Kant, Succotash, Cornflower Blue - Frederick Anderson - 2022
(form) Anderson used contrasting colors in this piece, the brown contrasting with the blue, the green contrasting with the pink. These clashing elements work in conjunction with the movement of the lines. The lines create an implied line in that they draw your eyes towards the top right corner of the artwork. These lines are all very similar in length and direction, thus creating a harmony in the piece. Next, Anderson does not utilize the entire canvas, but focuses his art in the middle and leaves a lot of negative space towards the bottom and top left corner.
Cool Blast - Adolph Gottlieb - 1960
(content) There are two main subject matters in this piece by Gottlieb, the red circle at the top, and the black shape at the bottom. The red circle symbolizes two things. The first meaning it has is the flag of Japan. The black shape looks like a floating island, which can symbolize the nation of Japan, since Japan is a collection of islands. The second meaning that the red circle could symbolize is an explosion, which suggests that Gottlieb was portraying the nuking of Japan in WWII.
Chinese Sincerity - Jack Whitten - 1974
(form) The dark and calming aesthetic Whitten was able to capture in this piece solely based on the colors he chose was remarkable. The analogous pallet used consists of dark blues, purples, and reds. The bright orange contrasts these colors, but also adds an asymmetrical balance to the piece. There is a black and white framing found offset in the center of the piece that almost seems to clash with the rest of the piece. There are not any objects or subjects in the artwork, which allows the viewers to form an opinion solely based on how the colors make them feel.
Neale Marriott - Sap Rising - 2018
(form) In this piece, Marriott creates what looks to be a take on an abstract landscape painting. The green carves out shapes of hills and plains and the heavy pronounced brushstrokes in the middle of the painting could depict a winding road along the plains. He puts an emphasis on that brushstroke which tells the viewer that it is the focal point of the piece. This stroke also creates implied lines along the path it carves out and makes the viewer metaphorically walk along the path with their eyes.
Hopefully by the end of the walk-through will a visitor have reinforced their skills in interpreting artworks. They should now know what the basic forms of lines and colors and shapes can do to create and alter a piece of art and also how to derive connections and meaning from those elements.