VIEW ALL WALTON'S BLOG ENTRIES
What was the appeal of abstract painting to Brice Marden? This was a question posed to him by talk-show host Leonard Lopate during Monday's noontime interview. Because when you confront this massive retrospective of his work at MoMA, the breadth and evolution of his work becomes immediately apparent.
Do initially overlook the drawings on the third floor and proceed immediately to the sixth-floor galleries, for the boldness of these enormous monochromatic panels seems so striking, and as you proceed through the galleries you see his style evolve in a most extraordinary way. It seems hard to believe just a few weeks ago these galleries were chockablock with Dadaobjets d'art; fortuitously, the curators have allowed plenty of space to perambulate and ponder these paintings. While at first you might think his earlier works evoke if not emulate Mark Rothko or Ad Reinhardt, Marden is rather adamant in his declarations that this is not the case. "People kept saying I was looking at Ad Reinhardt and Barnett Newman, but I wasn't," Marden tells Leonard Lopate. But he admits to a big connection with Jasper Johns when starting out as a student in the late 1950s.
His most recent paintings—loaned by the Matthew Marks Gallery—are truly the most breathtaking. These gargantuan paintings each comprise six panels of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet, with each panel featuring bold strokes in these colors of the rainbow. And this final gallery on the sixth floor seems so very uplifting: While Marden did take a color course at Boston University and politely claims not to have understood it, his most recent paintings clearly show a genial and brilliant mastery of color and light. His use of oil paint with wax (beeswax) added is most compelling, and he continually speaks of the importance of surrounding environment to him in his painting. Little wonder that some reviews have focused much on his property and travels, as place obviously is of key importance to him. Moreover, his homages to famous artists—both his contemporaries and Renaissance masters such as Fra Angelico—indicate just how astounding the depth and breadth of his vision can be. And in assessing his prints—in particular, the Suicide Notes—the meticulousness and painterly qualities so evident in his larger works can be better understood here; Asian calligraphy and poetry are just two of the many factors that influence his drawing and brushstrokes.
The retrospective runs through January 15, 2006.
Tags:
ad reinhardt, brice marden, jasper johns, mark rothko, moma
© All rights reserved.
Posted on 11/2/2006
(
Permanent Link
)
Send to Friend
