The power of place for artists

Mid-winter," oil on canvas, 33 x 48" 

Reading about new separate exhibitions of works by painters Agnes Martin (1912-2004)and Robert Diebenkorn (1922- 1993), I was struck by how profoundly each of these painters were affected by place. Martin is best known as a New York City artist making works using a minimalist delicate grid. What I didn't know is that before she arrived in NYC in her fifties at the urging of influential art dealer Betty Parsons, Martin was working in Taos in a semi-abstract, biomorphic style. The work has figurative qualities and is congruous with the regional work of "Taos Moderns" in the 1950s. Interestingly once she hit her stride in NYC (she was in her late 50s) with the "New York Grid," she became determined to literally destroy all of her earlier work. She actually made efforts to find sold pieces and buy them back in order to burn them. Those early Taos works are the subject of this exhibition at Harwood Museum of Art. 

Read a review of the exhibit and an account of Agnes Martin's determination to destroy her early works in Wall Street Journal

I have to say that not only do I prefer her early works, but this story has started me to consider how the place I live, Maine, informs what and how I paint.  Wondering how it would change were I to move to NYC, as I often dream of doing.

Credit: Mid-Winter (top)  Taos Municipal Schools Historic Art Collection, Taos, NM, copyright Agnes Martin/Artist Rights Society (ARS), New York.
Grid painting:  I could not find the title or collection for this piece.

Not Representing Anything

I enjoyed a brief little article in ArtSlant about painting abstract works (link below). It may be especially interesting to people who find abstract work intimidating because there appears to be nothing concrete to get one's head around...to understand. But this article points out that even when the artist tries to be completely abstract there is always an element of "representation" meaningful to the artist...even if he doesn't realize it is happening. We paint who we are, can't help it.  Likewise, the viewer can choose to interpret the work in response to his own life experience. It becomes an interactive experience from all perspectives.


ArtSlant:  On Not Representing Anything

The painting above is an abstract work done progressively by 5 different painters in one of my Tao of Painting Workshops. The paper had marks on it to start and each painter took a turn at responding to what was in front of her, so there are 5 personal commentaries in this work.
What does it communicate to you?