Hidden in Plain Sight
I have been thinking of black and white abstract expressionist paintings I have seen at shows in NY lately. The jumbled patterns create an infinite number of possible narrative forms that become a kind of “screen”, a “purdah” of sorts. This is the first of a series I’d like to explore, using more or less small bits of color to break up the wider field of black, white and grays.
Tom Bennett
Purdah, oil on canvas, 60″ x 48″
October 8, 2009 at 7:21 am
fan-fucking-tastic
October 8, 2009 at 11:30 am
Thank-thucking-you.
October 8, 2009 at 9:30 am
Interesting concept. Is the vantage point, peeking out or peeking in?
You seem to be trying to play both sides of the screen
October 8, 2009 at 11:29 am
I have, admittedly, been accused of playing both sides of the coin, but i’m not duplicitous. i wasn’t thinking along those lines, Ann, but these kind of issues are best left to the viewer.
October 8, 2009 at 5:44 pm
taking a new turn. I like how the blacker bottom half seems to hold the painting together. The forms remind me a little of de Kooning. I can make out a woman in a purdah veil at the top left.
October 8, 2009 at 11:19 pm
Like.
October 9, 2009 at 9:00 am
YEAH!
October 9, 2009 at 12:04 pm
i see darth vader and a masked minataur with r2d2 in the background. but back to the painting–solid and beautiful!
October 9, 2009 at 2:28 pm
Tell Mark it’s still weeks away from Halloween. Thanks, you guys.
October 11, 2009 at 11:03 pm
Hey Tom, I consider the Ab Exers my art history focus. In the past several years, I’ve read a shit-ton of books on the topic, and have gone to nearly every correlating show that the rotten city of Chicago has had to offer. Knowing you, I’m sure that your homework has been long handed in. That said, you are really close to breaking through (and that’s a compliment). In this one piece, you’ve vaguely hinted at the internal light of Rothko, and (you’ve always had) the gestural sweep of de Kooning. However, you have no Pollock or Still in there. Not necessarily a detraction, but in building this series, maybe you might re-consider what your subject is; painting/you/your era. If you can surmount all of these obstacles, then you’ve succeeded in a post-modern realization of a modernist idea. I would suggest re-evaluating the Impressionist’s ideas about light; namely, Seurat. I think that his breakthroughs would best benefit your weaknesses. As for your strengths, you might be able to out Ingers a de Kooning, which, I think, is the equivalent of near saint-hood. Learn how to express light and your age, simultaneously, and you’ll go down in the history books.
PS. You’re almost there.
October 13, 2009 at 6:45 am
Where am i going?
October 13, 2009 at 10:23 pm
reminds me of Dante.