KENNETH NOLAND MYSTERIES: FULL CIRCLE OCTOBER 5 DECEMBER 8, GRANT AVE, SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO

Transcription

1 KENNETH NOLAND MYSTERIES: FULL CIRCLE OCTOBER 5 DECEMBER 8, 2012 YARES ART PROJECTS 123 GRANT AVE, SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO (505)

2 KENNETH NOLAND Kenneth Noland s art can be categorized as Color Field painting, or as par t of Clement Greenberg s Post-Painter ly Abstraction movement, but Noland s body of wor k demonstrates so much more. After studying under the likes of Bolotowsky and Alber s, and wor king alongside fellow second-generation abstractionists like Frankenthaler and Louis, Noland created several signature styles of abstract imagery. These styles were comprised of chevrons, concentric cirles, striped patterns and shaped canvases. Noland s paintings are characterized by reduced, minimalist and strikingly simple compositions of line and color. In this regard, Noland s ar t has influenced a wide range of contemporar y abstractionists who continue to experiment with ultra-simplified forms in order to tap into basic human emotions. Kenneth Noland s Circles paintings were undoubtedly his breakthrough wor ks. In 1958 he began applying a variety of color to a basic circle template positioned on a square canvas, often creating a bur st of concentric circles rendered in complementary colors, which contrasted well against the square support. As the 1960s commenced, Noland s use of color grew increasingly bold and ambitious. By 1962 Noland began to experiment with colored backdrops and cleaner dividing lines between each circle. He also began making the innermost point of his circles the visual focal point rather than the outer layers. In 1999, Noland began work on his Mysteries ser ies of paintings, which was in many respects a retur n to his beginnings as a formalist abstractionist in the late 1950s. Using acrylics on unprimed canvas, he was once again creating concentr ic circles on square suppor ts. These paintings were for Noland a return to his roots as well as symbolic gestures. His new Circles, much like the older ones, are as visually bold as they are contextually ambiguous; however, he wanted to reaffir m their relevancy as the new millennium approached. Written by Justin Wolf Contributor to The Art Story Foundation The artist in his studio Por t Clyde, Maine, 2002

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4 I think of painting without subject matter as music without words. Kenneth Noland 4

5 Mysteries: Red Image 2001 acrylic on canvas 36" x 36" 5

6 6 Mysteries: Solo Dance 2001 acrylic on canvas 48" x 48"

7 Mysteries: Blues 1999 acrylic on canvas 60" x 60" 7

8 8 Mysteries: Magic Theatre 2000 acrylic on canvas 48" x 48"

9 Mysteries: Dreams to Follow 2001 acrylic on canvas 60" x 60" 9

10 10 Mysteries: Midnight Red 2000 acrylic on canvas 48" x 48"

11 Mysteries: Into the Night 2002 acrylic on canvas 60" x 60" 11

12 12 Mysteries: Night Green 2001 acrylic on canvas 48" x 48"

13 Mysteries: Golden Glow 2001 acrylic on canvas 60" x 60" 13

14 14 Mysteries: Indigo 1999 acrylic on canvas 34" x 34"

15 Mysteries: Aglow 2002 acrylic on canvas 72" x 72" 15

16 SELECTED MUSEUM COLLECTIONS Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL Australian National Gallery, Canberra, Australia Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD The Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, OH City Art Museum, St. Louis, MO Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts, Columbus, OH Corcoran Galler y of Ar t, Washington, DC Detroit Institute of Fine Arts, Detroit, MI Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, IA Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, MA Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan Hir shhor n Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC Kunsthaus, Zurich, Switzerland Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Dusseldorf, Germany Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA Louisiana Museum, Humlebaek, Denmark The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY Milwaukee Ar t Center, Milwaukee, WI Musee National d Art Moderne, Centre National d Art et de Culture Georges Pompidou, Paris, France Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY National Galler y of Ar t, Washington, DC Pasadena Art Museum, Pasadena, CA Phillips Collection, Washington, DC Rose Ar t Museum, Brandeis Univer sity, Waltham, MA Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands Tate Galler y, London, UK Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY All wor ks by Kenneth Noland the Paige Rense Noland 2008 Marital Tr ust