STEVEN ALEXANDER J O U R N A L: Agnes Martin

Showing posts with label Agnes Martin. Show all posts

5.11.16

GREAT WOMEN in New York

To counter the deluge of abject misogyny that has permeated the media for the past year, we are presently and thankfully experiencing a wave of important exhibitions by amazing women.

Siri Berg at the Shirley Fiterman Art Center

Nan Goldin at Matthew Marks

Carmen Herrera at the Whitney

Agnes Martin at the Guggenheim

Marilyn Minter at the Brooklyn Museum

Joan Mitchell at Cheim & Read

Pipilotti Rist at the New Museum

Susan Rothenberg at Sperone Westewater

Carolee Schneemann at LeLong and PPOW

Alma Thomas at the Studio Museum of Harlem

Carrie Mae Weems at Jack Shainman

9.2.13

AGNES MARTIN: Paintings, Writings, Remembrances

I once heard Louise Fishman exclaim, "by the way, Agnes Martin is the Buddha." If anyone ever needed proof, it has arrived in the form of this magnificent book, compiled by her long-time dealer Arne Glimcher.

First, of course, are the reproductions -- more than 150 exquisite reproductions of paintings, drawings, prints, installations, most of which have never been published before. They reveal Martin's range and depth with great clarity, and solidify the importance of her sustained contribution. They also provide an endless source of pure joy in their delicate, glowing, weightless beauty.

But in addition to the paintings, some of the greatest revelations here are Glimcher's first-hand accounts of his many visits to Martin's studio in New Mexico, and his descriptions of the tone and content of his conversations with the artist. They portray Martin as a truly extraordinary, shamanic character, haunted or guided by voices, living an ascetic life of total dedication to her discipline. Glimcher's descriptions of her studios (one in a spartan storefront in a strip mall), and her lifestyle (living on only one food item for extended periods to avoid distraction), are surprising insights into the extreme nature of her dedication and her life.

Combined with the many selections of the artist's writings and notes, which can become somewhat repetitive, if nevertheless consistent with her tenacious focus, this comprehensive book is a long awaited substantiation of Agnes Martin's place among the most important artists of the 20th century.

Agnes Martin, Untitled #5, 1975, 60 x 60 inches, acrylic & graphite on canvas

Agnes Martin, Untitled 17, 1997, 60 x 60 inches, acrylic & graphite on canvas

26.5.09

Ranking Reverb #1:
MARTIN, MARDEN, PALERMO, TRUITT

When I was a kid, my brother and I used to speculate endlessly about what combination of great musicians would comprise the ultimate dream band. In that spirit, and just for fun, Ranking Reverb is conceived as an occasional series of online exhibitions -- dream shows if you will. So here is the first -- a group of Ranking artists who pioneered primary structures while exploring the nuances of materiality and color.

To quote Louise Fishman, "Agnes Martin is the Buddha". Her paintings are the visual equivalent of breath -- the weave of the canvas, dry pencil line, light wash of translucent color -- silent, still, inclusive -- nothing and everything. They convey an expansive stasis, an ineffable wholeness in the humble and patient frankness of her process.

Brice Marden's early monochromes and color panel paintings were at once conceptually rigorous and deeply sensual. His heavily worked oil and beeswax surfaces were inhabited by rich hybrid or fugitive colors arrived at through a process that was steeped in tradition and buzzing with intelligent intuition. As his configurations became more complex, his color became more adventurous, and impeccably refined -- and always surprising.
In the late 60s, Blinky Palermo arrived at an exquisite integration of color and material with his fabric paintings -- not really paintings, but colored fabric mounted on stretchers. He would continue to develop these concerns, exploring the inherent properties of various materials, shapes and colors, evolving into his last and most important work, To the People of New York City, which was shown at Heiner Friedrich in NY just after the artist's death in 1977. It was a concise group of paintings on aluminum panels with simple paired combinations of red, yellow and black, now permanently installed at Dia Beacon. In it's original setting at the Friedrich Gallery, the installation was a highly charged arrangement of stark and beautiful relations that revealed the mysterious associative power of color and material in an entirely new way.

Anne Truitt was a singular, and often overlooked figure in the world of sculpture, making works that I consider to be 3-dimensional paintings. Though certainly sculptural in their declarative presence, her elemental configurations employ a beautiful integration of color and shape as a source of archetypal resonance.

Ranking Reverb #1