Surface of a Sphere
The 1960s saw an explosion of art reimagining the relationship of space to the object, turning void into matter to be shaped as previous generations worked with stone, metal, and pigment. In that decade, artists began to abandon the self-contained rectangle in favor of shaped paintings that definitively announced themselves as objects engaged with their surrounding environment, often with sculptural qualities. Surface of a Sphere considers how far contemporary artists have traveled since modernism鈥檚 exploration of space and objecthood, revisiting and extending the legacy of shaped painting while generating new possibilities. The artists included are from the East and West Coasts as well as North Carolina and Berlin, and the exhibition will travel to the Morgan Lehman Gallery in New York City in 2019.
Among today鈥檚 painters who eschew the rectangle, there is a tendency toward complexity, fragmentation, and irregularity, rather than the clear geometries and solid hues preferred by Ellsworth Kelly, or the flat stripes and shapes of Frank Stella鈥檚 Irregular Polygons or his Protractor Series. This shift constitutes a move away from modernist orthodoxies such as purity and idealism toward the idiosyncrasies of postmodernism, as well as an argument that real life is best embodied by art that is untidy, even awkward.
Rejecting the 20th century conception of an object that represents only itself, today鈥檚 shaped painters use formal strategies to inject signification directly into their work. Contemporary shaped painting owes more to artists such as Elizabeth Murray and Joe Overstreet than to minimalists and geometric abstraction. While previous generations typically wrapped canvas over a form in order to paint it, artists now work on all manner of surfaces, developing eccentric structures with disparate elements, materials, and off-kilter arrangements. This emphasis on heterogeneity feels particularly important in a political moment when the push for oligarchic hegemony is stronger than ever, and resistance is arising through diverse coalitions.
Recommended for you
The 1960s saw an explosion of art reimagining the relationship of space to the object, turning void into matter to be shaped as previous generations worked with stone, metal, and pigment. In that decade, artists began to abandon the self-contained rectangle in favor of shaped paintings that definitively announced themselves as objects engaged with their surrounding environment, often with sculptural qualities. Surface of a Sphere considers how far contemporary artists have traveled since modernism鈥檚 exploration of space and objecthood, revisiting and extending the legacy of shaped painting while generating new possibilities. The artists included are from the East and West Coasts as well as North Carolina and Berlin, and the exhibition will travel to the Morgan Lehman Gallery in New York City in 2019.
Among today鈥檚 painters who eschew the rectangle, there is a tendency toward complexity, fragmentation, and irregularity, rather than the clear geometries and solid hues preferred by Ellsworth Kelly, or the flat stripes and shapes of Frank Stella鈥檚 Irregular Polygons or his Protractor Series. This shift constitutes a move away from modernist orthodoxies such as purity and idealism toward the idiosyncrasies of postmodernism, as well as an argument that real life is best embodied by art that is untidy, even awkward.
Rejecting the 20th century conception of an object that represents only itself, today鈥檚 shaped painters use formal strategies to inject signification directly into their work. Contemporary shaped painting owes more to artists such as Elizabeth Murray and Joe Overstreet than to minimalists and geometric abstraction. While previous generations typically wrapped canvas over a form in order to paint it, artists now work on all manner of surfaces, developing eccentric structures with disparate elements, materials, and off-kilter arrangements. This emphasis on heterogeneity feels particularly important in a political moment when the push for oligarchic hegemony is stronger than ever, and resistance is arising through diverse coalitions.
Contact details
