There's a great photo of Abstract Expressionist Mike Goldberg and the New York Beat Poet Frank O'Hara that used to hang in Goldberg's studio - the two of them clowning around in front of a Picasso at the MoMA. Both young and enthusiastic, it was a great reminder of the youthful bond between the painter and poet. It was taken around the time Frank wrote his work 'Why I am not a Painter' about Goldberg and his painting Sardines that now belongs to the Smithsonian American Art Museum. I am not a painter, I am a poet. Why? I think I would rather be a painter, but I am not. Well, for instance, Mike Goldberg is starting a painting. I drop in."Sit down and have a drink" he says. I drink; we drink. I look up. "You have SARDINES in it.”"Oh." I go and the days go by and I drop in again. The painting is going on, and I go, and the days go by. I drop in. The painting is finished. "Where's SARDINES?" All that's left is just letters, "It was too much," Mike says. But me? One day I am thinking of a color: orange. I write a line about orange. Pretty soon it is a whole page of words, not lines. Then another page. There should be so much more, not of orange, of words, of how terrible orange is and life. Days go by. It is even in prose, I am a real poet. My poem is finished and I haven't mentioned orange yet. It's twelve poems, I call it ORANGES. And one day in a gallery see Mike's painting, called SARDINES.     Together with his Estate and Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, I have been working with the conservation team from the Smithsonian to provide an insight into Mike's work, particularly his process and use of tape. Painted in 1955, Sardines needs a little conservation, particularly the masking tape that is used in the composition. It makes me chuckle a little when I remember a line Mike once said when I questioned the permanency of some of his material choices.. 'Who gives a fuck, let the conservators worry about that later'. Classic Goldberg! Below is an article from the Smithsonian's Eye Level, detailing the restoration project: Conservation: Paint, Tape, and Sardines March 25, 2014 Michael Goldberg's Sardines A challenging theme has developed in Jessica Ford's projects at the Lunder Conservation Center: tape! In painting conservation, adhesive tape is not usually encountered during examination or treatment. However, in contemporary art the use of unconventional materials is rarely surprising. At times, tape was applied by painters to frame the edges of paintings or to guide a straight line. Michael Goldberg's Sardines uses a different approach and prominently features adhesive tape as part of the painting's composition. Goldberg's paintings often grow from a central, physical object. The artist begins with a realistic element and then redefines it with an energetic working process. Here, simple line drawings were covered in swaths of heavy paint, collaged elements of paper or tape were relocated or removed, and new lines were painted or carved to recall the original object. Although expressive and experimental, his work was also carefully crafted. Sardines was brought into the Lunder Conservation Center primarily because both the paint's and the tape's adhesion to the canvas needed to be strengthened. Part of Jessica's work will be cleaning the surface, stabilizing the paint layer, and analyzing the paint's composition. Her other major focus will be addressing the two different types of adhesive tape used by Goldberg. As a material, tape can deteriorate quickly. Over time, it can darken, lose adhesion, and become brittle. A conservation treatment must be planned that does not compromise the artist's intent or the appearance of his materials. In the coming weeks, Jessica will research the art historical context of Sardines and draw on her technical knowledge of artistic media to develop a treatment approach. Currently, Jessica is looking into the history, material components, and conservation of adhesive tape. Art conservationist often share their findings with others in the field. So, Jessica, along with Lunder conservators Tiarna Doherty and Amber Kerr, will be talking about their work at the American Institute for Conservation's annual meeting this coming May.

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Somewhere between a computer screen saver, a journey to find your spirit animal, and a car window streaked with rain, you'll find Chris Trueman's electric abstract canvases. (Huffington Post) [caption id="attachment_7301" align="alignleft" width="538"] Natural Selection #28, Chris Trueman 2012[/caption] 'My process begins on a raw canvas, I start by painting gesturally, with brushes, squeegees, and a variety of tools. The second layer is often a process of masking and spraying with an acrylic based spray paint. In this process I have to start building backwards, because the negative space is what will show through. Sometimes the spray is solid, at other times it allows the previous layer to show through, sometimes the masked layer covers the whole surface, sometimes just parts of the painting. The interesting thing about using the acrylic spray paint is that it adheres differently to the various surfaces, so the areas with the underlying gesture the spray is more solid, whereas the areas of raw canvas, the paint doesn't adhere as well. This ends up merging the layers, rather than a flat even graphic layer on top of a gestural painting, the graphic layer takes on the shapes and forms of the underlying layers. I then repeat this back and forth, more gestural painting, sometimes staining by watering down the acrylic paint and then back to the masking and spraying. What makes this body of work different than the previous bodies of work is that the gesture comes back to the top, before the final layer was a masked and sprayed layer. I know it is finished when there is a tension and balance between the forms, even though I work somewhat intuitively in the process, I start out with an idea of what the work will more or less look and act like in the end and I can see when I have accomplished my objectives while maintaining a freshness.' CT Chris Trueman - Interview We are thrilled to be working with Chris . Visit his artist page to view our exclusive limited edition print portfolio.

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190 Bowery is the renegade of the neighborhood. It sits perched at the junction of Spring St and The Bowery on New York's Lower East Side and has been a legitimate canvas for street artists for decades. It is a record of urban identity. Tags from 1960 sit side by side with works from today, mingling with soot stains and the markings of age. There is a respect that street artists have for their environment and their fellow artists. Not only do they consider the aesthetics of the building's facade and it's surroundings when adding their work, they consider the art of the person that has gone before. There is an unspoken law, if it's good it stays, if it's passe' it'll be painted over. These walls are a collaboration between artists, the city and nature. New York City is an urban jungle and within it, there is an inherent respect for an art culture that is derived from city life. What some of us call vandalism others call art. Real street art works in harmony with it's environment and compliments the beauty of the city that serves as its canvas. New Yorkers embrace 190 Bowery and despite the disneylandification of Manhattan, this building stands strong - an evolving cultural icon and one of those things that makes New York City the city of all cities. Spot the Tony DePew piece in the third image.

       

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A geometric abstraction, as the name suggests, describes an abstract artwork created with geometric forms. Rather than reference the actual world as we see it, these artworks work through metaphor, exploring the two dimensional nature of painting and that way that line and geometric form function within the parameters of 2-dimensional space. Unfortunately, paintings dealing with such a pure form of abstraction often get over looked because they seem too simple - I could do that, so why is it art? [caption id="attachment_6702" align="alignleft" width="510"] Artwork by Rebecca Norton & Jeremy Gilbert-Rolfe[/caption] For the most part, the geometry of space is hidden from the human eye and because of this, it can be difficult to find real life associations with such imagery.  In this sense, it is a space where the artist can truly escape any reference to illustration. Rebecca Norton's & Jeremy Gilbert-Rolfe's work as seen to the left, unveils the hidden affine geometries of reality. Rather than depict actual scenes, Norton & Rolfe work with geometric shapes to reveal the dynamic structure of space and the way light moves through and interacts with the spatial fabric to create an ever evolving, yet massless environment. Their work is extremely painterly and through the skillful play of form and space, Norton & Rolfe communicate the dynamism of nature and the hidden reality of it's endless transformation. This concept is not described through a literal illustration of transformation, but a metaphor that is communicated through the pure relationship of form, composition and surface.  

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Abstract art by definition “does not attempt to represent external reality, but instead, seeks to achieve its effect using colors, shapes and textures.” We enter unfamiliar territory when asked to make sense of an image that does not literally depict the outside world. Since our lives are saturated with pictures specifically designed to communicate content such as signs, advertising, illustration, emojis, we have come to expect concrete visual information from pictures - even from art. If a work of art has no definitive meaning, then what are we expected to make of it? Like a metaphor, an abstract artwork speaks through associations. Sometimes these are unexpected, even ambiguous, and as the viewer we must project meaning and draw our own conclusions. We shouldn’t feel intimidated by this process. There are no right or wrong answers. It’s one of those rare spaces where we have the ability to exercise judgment without consequence. Abstract art celebrates this freedom and as the viewer, we are entitled to form our own opinion. If we look at this piece by Mondrian, Broadway Boogie-Woogie from 1943, it may just look like lines and squares on a canvas at first glance. However, if we look closely, it's obvious that Mondrian loved painting, the painted surface is gorgeous! The composition reminds me of an urban landscape; the vertical and horizontal lines that I imagine connect buildings, roads and other elements of the environment around us.  I imagine the way traffic lights work, the flow of cars and pedestrians and the rhythms these movements create. I see Mondrian's love of music and his ability to find a beat in the rhythm of the city. Suddenly the painting comes alive, the lines, forms and colors begin to take on the meanings that I assigned to them.   It can be tough, but take time your time and really look at abstract art. Rid yourself of expectation, and you'll be surprised how a great work of art will reveal itself to you!

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