I went last night to the most fascinating abstract art opening that I have seen in some time. Our little gallery here in town held an opening for Patricia Wallace's mixed media paintings. She calls them "collages" and some of them have things other than paint mixed in, for example-words, but for the most part they are mixed media paintings. I particularly loved the one she has done that is just paint on paper, two circles, one small and one large, that are brilliant red. The "background that is infringing on the circles is crimson mixed with black or brown. There is a white bar at the bottom. It is somewhat reminiscent of Kandinsky, and yet not. It is something apart, that looks as if it belongs in a museum in New York rather than at our little gallery in our small town.
There were other great abstracts as well, and I found myself wanting even more to move in an abstract direction. I have been feeling this way for about a year now, after taking a painting workshop last summer. It doesn't help that I have watched the movie Pollack twice in the past two weeks. That Ed Harris started painting and worked at painting for several years for this role is amazing. He truly moves like Jackson Pollack. Both he and the woman who plays Lee Krasner truly seem to be channeling their characters.
For a while I turned my back on abstract art. It seemed to be the onlly thing that was talked about/done in art school, and I felt that most of it had been done already, mostly the greats had done it all before I was even a twinkle in anyone's eye. And I felt that the 20th century photorealism movement was on the right track. But now, I am thinking what is the point? If you want a photo, grab a camera. I am looking to incoroprate passion back into art, and the abstract artists at least seem to convey that fire and passion. I still love some of the "lovely to look at" artists as well, I just admire the drive and energy of the abstract artists.
Another interesting thing about the opening, was that this lady is in her 70's. The last two abstract artists that our gallery has shown have been women in their 70's. It is wonderfull to me, to think about being able to create well into one's twilight years. Both of these women are intelligent, passionate, experienced women that create a firm sense of ability, passion, and class.
I wish I had some of their work to post, but I have checked the internet and find that neither has a website. Instead I am posting an abstract that I found and love from the following site. http://community.livejournal.com/abstract_art/
