Alan Bates
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| The Nature of Things, 9, 2011. Mixed media on paper on board, 65 x 65 cm. |
Tony Tuckson
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| TP 597, 1952-56, oil in cardboard, 63.5 x 45 cm. |
The exhibition, Figures, by Tony Tuckson currently on show at Watters Gallery, Sydney, is a selection of small and medium sized works on mostly cardboard from the early to mid-1950s. You get a glimpse of the later pure lyrical abstraction which was to come in the 1960s and 70s from the work TP 597, 1952-56, whilst others indicate Tuckson is still negotiating various influences including Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse.
Elwyn Lynn
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| Elwyn Lynn, Tied Property, 1977, mixed media on paper, 55x77 cm. |
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Elwyn Lynn, Marbled, 1975, mixed media on paper, 77x55 cm.
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Elwyn Lynn, widely known for his art criticism and writing,
was an Australian matter painter. Matter painting was a facet of abstraction
concerned with the metaphysics of phenomena, placing emphasis on the
experimental use of texture, material additives and process. A leading exponent
was the Italian artist, Alberto Burri who sometimes burnt his work. Lynn, a contemporary
of Peter Clarke, also went further than emulation of an international style, he
personalised his painting. Described by Peter Pinson as possessing a ‘roughly
hewn larrikinism’,[[1]] Lynn says of his childhood in Junee, ‘You
were always conscious of soil.’[[2]] Junee, in south
central N.S.W., is ‘Drysdale country’ being susceptible to drought and
isolation. Lynn’s
personal photographs are of simple but iconic constructs in the landscape such
as weathered shed walls of rusted corrugated iron. The references to land
through cracked, furrowed and incised texture, range from dark brooding
salutations of the landscape to more celebratory works, and are a direct
reference to his origins. Whilst the concept and technique are informed by
European artists including Tàpies, Dubuffet and Duchamp, Lynn also follows on from the bleakness of
Drysdale.
Lynn’s
choice of materials and the use of those materials is Australian. Makeshift
‘depression’ or ‘bush’ materials are favoured, and include sewn hessian sacs,
packing crates, cardboard, rope, and brown paper. These cheap, everyday
materials, were then sometimes torn, and used in an intentionally ‘not too
flash manner’. Bound rope around sticks, is also sometimes used in a competent,
solid, bushman-like manner. His paintings are ‘made’ rather than
‘professionally’ painted, with apparent additives to the traditional artist’s
paint including glue, earth pigments and sand. As a consequence, the works
appear to be the residue of play, or freewheeling improvisation. The result:
the conjuring of landscape through enactment.
Excerpt from PhD exegesis, 'Makeshift, Abstraction and the Australian Patina', 2009.
1.
Peter Pinson, Elwyn Lynn: metaphor + texture (St
Leonards, N.S.W.: Craftsman House, 2002), 24.
2.
Ibid, 13.
Carl Warner
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| Carl Warner, Magnetismofandidenticalmoment, 2011. Type C print, mounted to acrylic, 120x80x10 cm. From The Remembered Present Exhibition, 2011, Jan Manton Art, Brisbane. Image reproduced from VisualArtist.info website |
R. H. Quaytman
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| Chapter 12, iamb (Red Checkers with Edges), 2001-2008. Silkscreen and oil on wood, 51x82.2 cm. Image reproduced from Saatchi Gallery Website. |
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| Chapter 12: iamb, (lateral inhibitions in the perceptual field), 2008. Silkscreen, gesso on wood, 133x82.2 cm. Reproduced from Miguel Abreu Gallery Website |
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Chapter 12: iamb, 2008. Oil, silkscreen, gesso on wood, 82.2 x 133 cm. Reproduced from Miguel Abreu Gallery Website.
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Cy Twombly
Of the many, many, wonderful paintings by Cy Twombly, I find I keep returning to the early works. Below are two good examples of both the 'white' and 'blackboard' works from the 1950s.
Panorama, c1954. House paint, crayon and chalk on canvas, 254x340.4cm.
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| Tiznit, 1953. White lead, house paint, crayon and pencil on canvas. 135.9x189.2cm. |
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| Untitled, Rome 1984-5. Wood plaster, nails, paint. metal fastener, 51.3x52.7x23.7cm. |
The following is reproduced from - ABC/Reuters, July 6, 2011.
American painter Cy Twombly dies
American painter Cy Twombly, a key figure in the post-war
abstract art world, has died in Rome
after suffering from cancer for a number of years.
Twombly, 83, was best known for his canvases that combined
painting, drawing and calligraphic texts - many of them reflecting classical
themes.
Italy's
Ansa news agency reports the artist had been hospitalised in Rome for a few days and had wanted to be
buried in the city.
"The art world has lost a true genius and a completely
original talent, and for those fortunate enough to have known him, a great
human being," said Larry Gagosian of Gagosian Gallery, which represented
Twombly.
"We will not soon see a talent of such amazing scope
and intensity.
"Even though Cy might have been regarded as reclusive,
he didn't retreat to an ivory tower. He was happy to remain connected and live
in the present."
Gagosian added that Twombly, who divided critics throughout
his life and often refused to fit in with the trends of the day, never lost his
sense of humour and always remained humble.
He settled permanently in Italy
in the late 1950s as the art world was heading in the opposite direction - from
Europe to New York,
a move the New York Times called "the most symbolic of his
idiosyncrasies".
Mixed reception
Twombly never had an easy ride with art experts, who
questioned whether his calligraphic style and use of words and graffiti in paintings
were worthy of a place at the high table of 20th century abstract art.
But the figure who shunned publicity was a star of the
contemporary art world by the time of his death.
The Art Gallery of New South Wales owns one of his
paintings.
The National Gallery of Australia owns a 400-kilogram
bronze sculpture by Twombly.
It is a strong example of his use of classical themes.
The word "Victory" is inscribed below a soaring
sail-shaped arc that crowns the large work.
Less than two months ago a Twombly work from 1967, Untitled,
sold for $US15.2 million ($14.2 million) at Christie's in New York.
And last year he was invited to paint the ceiling of the
Salle des Bronzes at the Louvre in Paris, only the third contemporary artist to
be given such an honour.
The resulting work was an abstract composition on a blue
background complementing Georges Braque's ceiling in the adjoining gallery.
On it appeared the names of the most celebrated classical
Greek sculptors of the fourth century, underlining Twombly's fascination for
classical art and history.
Twombly was born in Lexington,
Virginia, in 1928. He studied in
a number of US art colleges
before travelling extensively in Europe.
He served as a cryptologist in the US military in
the early 1950s.
The Bauhaus, Dessau, 2006
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| The Bauhaus |
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| Bauhaus foyer |
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| Bauhaus studio |
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| Paul Klee's house, with Kandinsky's in the background |
...And I'll bury my soul in a scrapbook,
With the photographs there, and the moths...
Leonard Cohen, Take this Waltz, 1988. (Lyrics inspired by Federico Garcia Lorca)
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